Anchored by evocative melodies and an enthralling lyrical narrative, First Two Pages of Frankenstein signals a thrilling new chapter in the band’s beloved discography. The 11-song album was produced by The National at Long Pond Studios in upstate New York and features guest appearances by Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens.

The follow-up to 2019’s top five hit album I Am Easy To Find, First Two Pages of Frankenstein was initially stalled while lead singer Matt Berninger navigated “a very dark spot where I couldn’t come up with lyrics or melodies at all, and that period lasted for over a year. Even though we’d always been anxious and argued quite a lot whenever we were working on a record, this was the first time it ever felt like maybe things really had come to an end.” Instead, The National “managed to come back together and approach everything from a different angle, and because of that we arrived at what feels like a new era for the band,” according to guitarist/pianist Bryce Dessner, whose bandmates also include his brother Aaron (guitar/piano/bass) as well as brothers Scott Devendorf (bass, guitar) and Bryan Devendorf (drums).

First Two Pages of Frankenstein channels the group’s revitalized chemistry into a body of work that beautifully balances elegant musicality with the National’s more idiosyncratic impulses. Tracks such as “Grease in Your Hair” and “Ice Machines” were road-tested in 2022 before they were recorded, allowing the band to hone the material in real time (another song, “Weird Goodbyes” featuring Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, was released as a standalone track last August). “To me the power of this record has to do with the intentionality and structure of the music meeting with a lot of accidental magic,” says Aaron Dessner.

Swift duets with Berninger on the luminous “The Alcott,” continuing her recent string of collaborations with members of The National on her chart-topping albums folklore and evermore and Aaron Dessner’s Big Red Machine project. The song finds Berninger and Swift inhabiting the roles of a couple attempting to resurrect a troubled relationship, forging a finely drawn story nearly novelistic in scope. “It’s about two people with a long history returning to a place and trying to relive a certain moment in time,” says Berninger. “It’s got the feeling of a last-ditch effort to hold onto the relationship, but there’s a hint of something positive where you can see the beginnings of a reconnection.”

TRACK LISTING

Once Upon A Poolside (feat. Sufjan Stevens)
Eucalyptus
New Order T-Shirt
This Isn't Helping (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
Tropic Morning News
Alien
The Alcott (feat. Taylor Swift)
Grease In Your Hair
Ice Machines
Your Mind Is Not Your Friend (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
Send For Me 

Elena Tonra isn’t a keen swimmer, but oceans pervade Stereo Mind Game. It’s a matter of distance. Daughter’s third record, the band’s first studio album for seven years, grapples with what it means to be separated, from loved ones and too from yourself.

“Oh it will likely kill me / That I must live / Without you / Because I can’t swim,” Tonra sings, whisper-like, on “Isolation”. It’s a classic Daughter song that basks elegantly in deepest despair. Yet here there’s a sense of something beyond despair too. “I’ll compose myself / I’ll get over it,” Tonra continues. On Stereo Mind Game, Daughter tend to sorrow by fixing it in time. Doing so makes it more real, like the flower – dried, pressed and remembered – on the album’s cover.

Daughter – the trio comprising Tonra, Igor Haefeli and Remi Aguilella – formed in 2010. After releasing two studio albums, If You Leave (2013) and Not to Disappear (2016), and the video game soundtrack Music From Before the Storm (2017), they chose to take some time off. But not before jamming together in Los Angeles, in between a support tour with The National and their first headline shows in South America. It was here that a new album started to germinate.

Over the next couple of years – during which they worked on their own projects, including Tonra’s solo record as Ex:Re – Daughter met occasionally to write together in studios in London, Portland and in San Diego, where Haefeli lived for six months in 2019. The record’s central romantic figure is someone Tonra met out there when she visited from London. They shared a significant connection, but she knew the Atlantic lay between them.

It’s this that she sings about on “Be On Your Way”, a longing but resilient song about an enduring connection that is also undefinable. Where previous Daughter songs mourned old relationships, here Tonra is accepting of whatever the future brings. “A friend said to me recently: just because something ends, doesn’t mean that it wasn’t real,” she says. Haefeli likens the revelation to the pressed flower image: “It’s still there. It still exists. It grew that spring.”

Daughter began recording the album’s twelve songs in earnest in 2021. Haefeli, who lives in Bristol, met with Tonra at Middle Farm Studios in Devon. Aguilella, who is based in Portland, Oregon, recorded his drum parts in Bocce Studio in Vancouver, Washington. Haefeli produced a number of the songs, while Tonra produced “Junkmail”. They co-produced the rest.

The longing to close physical distances – a feeling that only grew during the pandemic – has seeped into many of these tracks. On “Wish I Could Cross the Sea” we hear voice notes from Tonra’s young niece and nephew, who live in Italy. “(Missed Calls)” features another voice note, in which a friend describes a dream. Fed through some modular effects, it becomes glitchy, and haunting. These messages, attempts at connection from loved ones you’re unable to see, “can pull you out of the well”, Tonra says – but only if you pick up the phone.

When you let others in, beauty can arise. Deep feeling comes from the bows of the 12 Ensemble, the London-based string orchestra, who play on many of the album’s tracks. Arranged by Haefeli and Tonra, and orchestrated by Josephine Stephenson, their parts were – fittingly – recorded at The Pool, a space in Bermondsey, south London, which is a former swimming spot. A brass quartet also brings a new sonic warmth to “Neptune” and “To Rage”.

And for the first time, Tonra’s is not a lone voice. On “Dandelion”, which glistens with Haefeli’s chime-like guitars and Aguilella’s rousing drums, Tonra plays call and response with herself. Haefeli leads some vocal lines on the exhilarating “Future Lover”, and on “Neptune”, a choir appears. These vocalists are the string players of the 12 Ensemble. “It’s one of my favourite moments of the record,” Tonra says, “when suddenly, the crowd joins. It’s a very lonely song. But even when I’ve felt the most alone, arms have reached out to me.”

In order to maintain relationships with others, we must first make peace with ourselves. “Party” recounts a significant moment: the night that made Tonra realise she wanted to give up alcohol. It’s a topic she has written about before, but she needed distance to see it clearly. Haefeli borrows her image: “This time you had climbed out of the well,” he says, “and were looking back down.” It’s the song she’s most proud of, and the one that lends its lyrics to the album title (“Some stereo mind game I play with myself”), which refers to the conflicting voices we all have in our heads.

While Daughter’s previous work found power in emotional honesty, Stereo Mind Game welcomes opposing feelings. “It’s about not working in absolutes,” Haefeli says. After more than a decade spent depicting the darkest emotions, Daughter have made their most optimistic record yet.

TRACK LISTING

Intro
Be On Your Way
Party
Dandelion
Neptune
Swim Back
Junkmail
Future Lover
(Missed Calls)
Isolation
To Rage
Wish I Could Cross The Sea

If Chua’s 2022 release "Golden," written from the perspective of her younger self, was the meditative prelude to the world of YIAN, then her new single “Echo” places us firmly in its first chapter. A pop song about ancestral trauma, “Echo” is the antihero’s journey, walking the line between respect for the past and the freedom to carve out a new future. (“I won’t carry your shame / Won’t be your echo again… I couldn’t be anyone else / I look to you, I see myself”). Chua delivers with her uniquely intimate, yet otherworldly sound in this self-produced and engineered song, capturing sensuous echoing harmonies and delicate soul-infused piano.

Following intensive studies in Chinese dance forms, Chua joined forces with film director Jade Ang Jackman and movement director Chantel Foo to create the visual for “Echo”; Chua’s take on a choreographed pop MV. The short film is a moving and innovative homage to Chinese fan dance and martial arts; an internal journey through the shifting seasons of emotional weather. Grounded by a stone circle, Chua dances with her handmade Chinese silk fans as the mood shifts from thorny rose garden to blizzard. “Sometimes I think we are all just footprints in the snow,” Chua says.

“YIAN” (燕), means swallow in Chinese, and is part of “Siew Yian,” the name given to Chua by her parents to preserve her connection with her Chinese heritage. Just as the migratory songbird lives between places, so did Chua, the artist living in the in-between of the English, Malaysian and Chinese cultures that make up her heritage. In the absence of Mandarin as a mother tongue, music became a way to express the parts of herself that couldn’t be described in words; “YIAN” emerged as a way to heal.

A deeply introspective and fully realized vessel of creative expression (Chua self-produced and engineered eight of the ten tracks), “YIAN” emerges as less an album than a worldview, a commitment to learning and uncovering one’s own selfhood honed over Chua’s lifelong reconciliation with her own personal history and identity.

Through this process she found new language through which to express her experiences, language which lay in the practices she developed and the creative community with whom she built solidarity along the process: co-authoring visual identities with main collaborators Tash Tung, Jade Ang Jackman and Nhu Xuan Hua and set designers Lydia Chan, Jonquil Lawrence and Erin Tse. Chua also constructed the album’s physical language through dance with movement directors Chantel Foo and Duane Nasis, this expression shown most vividly through the short film made for “Echo,” out today.

TRACK LISTING

1. Golden
2. Meditations On A Place
3. I Promise
4. You
5. An Ocean
6. Autumn Leaves Don't Come
7. Echo
8. Do You Know You Know
9. Grief Piece
10. Something Other Than Years

Bless This Mess is the highly anticipated eighth album by U.S. Girls, the nom de plume of North American multi-disciplinary and experimental pop artist Meg Remy. A dynamic suite of dexterous melodies and a nuanced artistic response to the complexities of motherhood, Bless This Mess was crafted in tandem with the conception and birth of Remy’s twin boys. It expands the sonic and thematic palette of U.S. Girls, fusing the muses of funk, mythology, and the radical disorientation of joy into an electric tapestry of anthems, aches, and awakenings.

As Remy’s body changed so did her voice; her diaphragm lost breathing room, adjusting to the growing lives inside. Many takes on Bless This Mess were tracked with the babies in utero, or in her arms. (She even samples her breast pump on the album’s poetic closing cut, “Pump”). The resulting performances are suffused by the physicality of this journey: more blood, more feelings, the interwoven wonders, and wounds of procreation.

The ten songs on Bless This Mess were pieced together stem by stem with a vast cast of collaborators (Alex Frankel of Holy Ghost!, Marker Starling, Ryland Blackinton of Cobra Starship, Basia Bulat, Roger Manning Jr. of Jellyfish and Beck,) and audio engineers (Neal H Pogue, Ken Sluiter, Steve Chahley, Maximilian Turnbull). Long-time collaborator, husband, and co-parent Turnbull played a key role facilitating these fluid muses. The production throughout is exquisite, warm, and wood-panelled, framing the voice, keys, bass, and rhythms in heightened textural harmony.

TRACK LISTING

Only Daedalus
Just Space For Light
Screen Face
Futures Bet
So Typically Now
Bless This Mess
Tux (Your Body Fills Me, Boo)
R.I.P. Roy G. Biv
St. James Way
Pump

4AD welcomes songwriter and producer Benjamin Woods and his project, the Golden Dregs, to the roster. Hailing from Cornwall – a county in south-west England that draws thousands of tourists on holiday, and where thousands of locals could never hope of affording one – Woods grew up with a keen awareness of that gap between idealism and reality. the Golden Dregs’ third album, On Grace & Dignity, is released on 10 February 2023 and considers his home and what it means to be shaped by a place – in this instance, Truro, Cornwall’s capital, home to a rare three-spired cathedral, a peaceful river and a lot of empty shops and flimsy out-of-town housing estates. Written, recorded and produced by Woods from his South London home and childhood bedroom in Truro, it was mixed by Ali Chant (Perfume Genius, Aldous Harding) who provided additional production.

On Grace & Dignity’s origins lie in winter 2020 when Woods lost his job in lockdown and moved back to his parents’ house. The only work he could get was as a labourer on a poorly run building site on the grimmest outskirts of Truro. “It was such a bleak winter – waist-deep in mud digging holes and rolling out turf on top of building waste, really grim stuff, which became the backdrop to the stories I was trying to write,” he adds, citing Raymond Carver, Lydia Davis and Richard Hugo as influences.

In among the personal reflections on loss of innocence and inferiority, Woods spins subtly interweaving narratives about survival, desperate acts of violence, loss and the limitations of community in the face of rapacious gentrification. Nevertheless, it is, appropriately for an album about home, somewhere you’ll want to spend a while. Life here proceeds at a graceful pace grounded by Woods’s deep voice, which seems to resonate from his feet as he delivers the sort of meticulously written lunar wisdom worthy of Lambchop’s Kurt Wagner, or the tidy yet revelatory koans of Silver Jews’ David Berman.

For the On Grace & Dignity artwork, he’s commissioned Bristol-based model-maker Edie Lawrence to construct an HO-scale fictional Cornish town. Christened Polgras, the 8 ft by 4 ft model features a viaduct, an estuary, a supermarket, new-build houses and industrial buildings; every song from On Grace & Dignity is represented by a scene in the town. “There’s different parts of the experience of growing up in Cornwall in there,” he says. “Some of it was from me looking at it when I was down there that winter, and some of it was me harking back to the experience of growing up there. It’s defined by that sense of duality, of coexisting realities,” he explains. “You’re geographically so far away, and it has a strong identity of its own, as well as a different landscape. It’s so rugged and bleak, but beautiful – which is what I really like in music.” 

TRACK LISTING

1- Intro
2- American Airlines
3- How It Starts
4- Before We Fell From Grace
5- Not Even The Rain
6- Eulogy
7- Josephine
8- Vista
9- Sundown Lake
10- Beyond Reasonable Doubt 

Created during a particularly tumultuous time in Nutzman’s life that involved drug abuse, bank fraud, and a house fire, it’s unsurprising that Bulli would echo his present state of mind. Bulli feels anticipatory, often frantic and manic but given the period of his life that it emerged from its songs glimmer with a pop sheen, as fragmentary soundscapes meld leftfield electronic sounds with alternative rock, power pop, even tender R&B and deft hip-hop.

TRACK LISTING

CD Tracklisting
1.  Pop Song 2
2.  Never Said Peep
3.  Pop Song 1
4.  Sinker
5.  Bell Clapper
6.  Ebony Eggshell
7.  Ballad Smaller
8.  Shiny
9.  Georgia
10.  The Foreigner
11.  Animal
12.  Sub Tieties


LP Tracklisting

Side A
A1.  Beginner**
A2.  Never Said Peep**
A3.  The Foreigner
A4.  Pop Song 2
A5.  Pop Song 1
A6.  Bell Clapper
A7.  Repedo
A8.  Ballad Smaller

Side B
B1.  Shiny
B2.  Legal Tender**
B3.  Sinker
B4.  Ebony Eggshell
B5.  Georgia
B6.  Over**
B7.  Sub Tieties
B8.  Animal

(** Exclusive To Vinyl)

Having previously lived for extended periods in Vienna and Los Angeles, London-born SOHN now resides in the pine forests of Catalunya, Spain, and it is this new environment that inspired ‘Segre’. Named for the river that feeds into the Pyrenees in Northern Catalunya, SOHN explains, “during the last years of immense change and upheaval, following that river up to our mountain home has become my way of re-centring myself.” The single’s official video was directed by and stars Spanish dance duo LOOKATHINGSDIFFERENT.

Trust marks a seismic shift in perception and direction for the solo artist, echoing SOHN’s new responsibility as the father of three children. Moving from Los Angeles to the serenity of Catalunya and the experience of parenthood changed his mindset. “I felt this kind of openness I hadn’t felt before, and I realised I couldn’t do it alone anymore - I was missing community and friendship in life and the creative process,” SOHN says. For the first time in his decade-long career the producer invited others to help him bring a new album to life, returning to LA (where he recorded Rennen) to work with Yakob, Mike Sonier, Chris Tabron, Jesse Boykins III, Ryan Linvill, Noah Le Gros and Emile Mosseri. Community, intimacy, family, and openness are key themes on Trust as the British producer reflects on his past life (Vienna in ‘Figureskating, Neusiedlersee’) and present reality (‘Montardit’, ‘Segre’). By opening up his creative process to others Toph Taylor invites the listener to experience his most intimate and personal work to date. “On [debut album] Tremors it was like I was behind glass, but Trust feels like you could be sat in that room, and not just with me; you're sitting in this room with me, some musicians, some friends.”

TRACK LISTING

Start
Antigravity
Figureskating, Neusiedlersee
M.I.A.
I Won’t
Riverbank
Life Behind Glass
Truce
Montardit
Serge
Station
Basis
Caravel

The South London-based group’s first studio album, recorded in just two weeks with producer John Parish at the iconic Rockfield Studios, became a huge critical and commercial success reaching #4 in the UK Album Charts and featuring in best-of-2021 polls across the board. Buoyed by its success, Nick Buxton (drums), Tom Dowse (guitar), Lewis Maynard (bass) and Florence Shaw (vocals) returned to rural Wales in late 2021, partnering once more with Parish and engineer Joe Jones. Working from a position of trust in the same studio and with the same team, imposter syndrome and anxiety was replaced by a fresh freedom and openness to explore beyond an already rangy sonic palette, a newfound confidence in their creative vision. A longer period in the studio afforded the time to experiment, improvise, play, sharpen their table tennis skills.

Stumpwork was inspired by a plethora of events, concepts, and political debacles, be they represented in the icy mess of ambient elements reflecting a certain existential despair, or the surprising warmth in celebrating the lives of loved ones lost through the previous year. Surrealist lyrics are as ever at the forefront – but there is a sensitivity now to the themes of family, money, politics, self-deprecation, and sensuality. Furious alt-rock anthems combine across the record with jangle pop and ambient noise, demonstrating the wealth of influences the band feed off and their deep musicality. With the pressure of their debut album behind them, Dry Cleaning have crafted an ambitious and deeply rewarding new work that marks them out as one of the most intelligent and exciting acts to come out of the UK.

The album and single artwork were conceived and created by multi-disciplinary artists Rottingdean Bazaar and photographer Annie Collinge. James Theseus Buck and Luke Brooks of Rottingdean Bazaar first worked with Dry Cleaning directing the official video for ‘Scratchcard Lanyard’ and as their creative partnership with the band continues to flourish, they have fashioned a brilliantly unique visual identity for Stumpwork.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Loved last year's "New Long Leg"? Well you're gonna love this! Crammed full of that wry and witty humour that we adored on their debut, Dry Cleaning also step up sonically on "Stumpwork" with tonnes of infectious post-punk. Without a doubt a truly special band, who we hope stay with us for many years to come.

TRACK LISTING

1. Anna Calls From The Arctic
2. Kwenchy Kups
3. Gary Ashby
4. Driver’s Story
5. Hot Penny Day
6. Stumpwork
7. No Decent Shoes For Rain
8. Don’t Press Me
9. Conservative Hell
10. Liberty Log
11. Icebergs

A first for both Pixies and 4AD, Doolittle is released as a Pure Audio Blu-ray.

Containg both the album in high definition (96 kHz / 24 bit) 5.1 surround sound - having been remixed by audio specialist Kevin Vanbergen (FX) from the original analogue multi-tracks - and a HD transfer of the original stereo mix by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab.

The results are a revelation, separating out elements from the recordings that are buried in the stereo mix and adding space, depth and a clarity to the performances without diluting their energy and impact. An absolute must for all Pixies fans.

TRACK LISTING

Debaser
Tame
Wave Of Mutilation
I Bleed
Here Comes Your Man
Dead
Monkey Gone To Heaven
Mr. Grieves
Crackity Jones
La La Love You
No. 13 Baby
There Goes My Gun
Hey
Silver
Gouge Away

The National’s self-titled debut album marks the start point for one of the best bands of a generation.

Released in 2001, ‘The National’ landed two years after they formed and came during a time when they were having to juggle band life with full-time jobs.

And while nods to the alt. rock artists that inspired them (Pavement, Silver Jews) can be heard, so too are the beginnings of something all their own - Matt Berninger’s stunning and unexpected lyrics being pinned to melodies that stop you in your tracks.

For National Album Day 2022, the band reissue the album on white vinyl.

TRACK LISTING

Beautiful Head
Cold Girl Fever
The Perfect Song
American Mary
Son
Pay For Me
Bitters & Absolut
John’s Star
Watching You Well
Theory Of The Crows
29 Years
Anna Freud

Born in Ipswich, England to a military father and opera-singer mother Bartees had a peripatetic early childhood before eventually settling in Mustang, Oklahoma. Later, Bartees cut his teeth playing in hardcore bands in Washington D.C. and Brooklyn whilst working in the Barack Obama administration and (eventually) the environmental movement. Since charting a path as a solo artist, Bartees Strange has released two records in quick succession: an EP reimagining songs by The National (Say Goodbye To Pretty Boy, 2020) and his debut album proper Live Forever (2020).

Farm to Table, which also includes recent single ‘Heavy Heart’, is the second album from Washington D.C. resident Bartees Leon Cox Jr.. Where his 2020 debut record Live Forever introduced the experiences and places that shaped Bartees (Flagey Brussels, Mustang Oklahoma), Farm to Table zeros in on the people – specifically his family – and those closest to him on his journey so far. With his career firmly on the ascent, Farm to Table examines Bartees’ constantly shapeshifting relationship with life post-Live Forever. It also speaks to a deeper lore that says, don’t forget where you came from, and this album is why. Always remembering where he came from, across 10 songs Bartees is celebrating the past, moving towards the future, and fully appreciating the present.

An unapologetic and braggadocious indie-trap banger, new single ‘Cosigns’ celebrates Bartees’ peers, collaborators and friends; name-checking the likes of Bon Iver, Phoebe Bridgers, Courtney Barnett, Lucy Dacus, through a genre-defying outpouring somewhere between swaggering hip hop and euphoric alt rock. The song ends on a poem he wrote in his early 20s, “I don’t know how to be full, it’s the hardest to know, I keep consuming I can’t give it up, It’s never enough.” ‘Cosigns’ is also a moment for Bartees to acknowledge himself, giving himself credence and unashamedly basking in that glow. Its accompanying official video was directed by Pooneh Ghana.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Heavy Heart
A2. Mulholland Dr.
A3. Wretched
A4. Cosigns
A5. Tours
B1. Hold The Line
B2. We Were Only Close For Like Two Weeks
B3. Escape This Circus
B4. Daily News (Vinyl Only Track)
B5. Black Gold
B6. Hennessy

Written, recorded and produced by Spencer. during the pandemic, ‘Are U Down?’ blends R&B, hip-hop, funk, indie, pop, jazz and soul to create a sound that feels both analogue and digital, honouring the past whilst staying firmly in the present.

Spencer. has integrated neo-soul vocal fireworks, hip-hop flow and pop ambition into an album steeped in all the feels of a New York summer.

The album includes the singles ‘No Direction’ which Spencer. performed for the GRAMMY’s Play At Home series, ‘MyLuv’ and ‘Lonely As I Ever Was’, as well as the standout track ‘U Around?’, which was prominently featured on episode five of the latest season of the HBO hit-show ‘Insecure’.

The record also features 4AD labelmate Becky And The Birds (vocals on ‘After The Show’), Luke Diamond (guitars) and Jake Aron (some additional production).

TRACK LISTING

Byyyte
Lonely As I Ever Was
U Around?
MyLuv
After The Show (Spencer feat Becky And The Birds)
Luvs Me Not
RocStar
Staywmecassette
No Direction
Heart Freestyle
Drop

June 2021 marked the tenth anniversary of the worldwide release of Bon Iver's highly acclaimed sophomore release Bon Iver, Bon Iver.

This edition also includes five songs from Bon Iver’s beautiful AIR Studios session, which captures the grand spirit of Bon Iver, Bon Iver and distils it into sharper focus, as Justin Vernon and Sean Carey perform the songs as a duo, on grand pianos and vocals only. Bon Iver, Bon Iver (10th Anniversary Edition) features a blind embossed version of the original cover art and an intimate personal essay from long-time fan Phoebe Bridgers recalling how the “massive, sprawling, unbelievably complex” album brings about both yearning for yesterday, contentment for the present, and collective hope for the future. The album’s iconic cover art has been reimagined to a minimal white-on-white, with a white LP to match.

TRACK LISTING

Perth
Minnesota, W
Holocene
Towers
Michicant
Hinnom, TX
Wash.
Calgary
Lisbon, OH
Beth/Rest
Hinnom, TX (AIR Studios - 4AD/Jagjaguwar Session)
Wash. (AIR Studios - 4AD/Jagjaguwar Session)
I Can't Make You Love Me (AIR Studios - 4AD/Jagjaguwar Session)
Babys (AIR Studios - 4AD/Jagjaguwar Session)
Beth/Rest (AIR Studios - 4AD/Jagjaguwar Session)

Aldous Harding announces details of a new studio album, the follow-up to 2019’s acclaimed Designer.

For Warm Chris, the New Zealand musician reunited with producer John Parish, continuing a professional partnership that began in 2017 and has forged pivotal bodies of work (2017’s Party and the aforementioned Designer). All ten tracks were recorded at Rockfield Studios and includes contributions from H. Hawkline, Seb Rochford, Gavin Fitzjohn, John and Hopey Parish and Jason Williamson (Sleaford Mods).

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Warm Chris takes the songwriting foundation laid down on 'Designer' and warps it with a more noticeable veer towards arty alt-folk minimalism. there are bits of the clanging indie of Barnett or tender spoken-folk segments of Neil Young but presented in a voice that's enduringly, all her own. Beautiful as expected.

TRACK LISTING

Ennui
Tick Tock
Fever
Warm Chris
Lawn
Passion Babe
She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain
Staring At The Henry Moore
Bubbles
Leathery Whip

Classic Objects is a map of places; past places, like the old empty Melbourne pubs Hval’s band used to play in, public places Hval missed throughout lockdown, imagined, future places, and impossible places where dreams, hallucinations, death and art can take you. It is interested in combining heavenly things and plain things.

Classic Objects is Hval’s version of a pop album. Every song has a verse and a chorus. There are interchangeable moments of complexity, interesting melodies throughout, and a feeling of elevation and clarity in the choruses. Heba Kadry mixed it to sound as though it’s played through “a stereo in a mysterious room.”

TRACK LISTING

Year Of Love
American Coffee
Classic Objects
Cemetery Of Splendour
Year Of Sky
Jupiter
Freedom
The Revolution Will Not Be Owned

Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You is a sprawling double-LP exploring the deepest elements and possibilities of Big Thief. To truly dig into all that the music of Adrianne Lenker, Max Oleartchik, Buck Meek, and James Krivchenia desired in 2020, the band decided to write and record a rambling account of growth as individuals, musicians, and chosen family over 4 distinct recording sessions. In Upstate New York, Topanga Canyon, The Rocky Mountains, and Tucson, Arizona, Big Thief spent 5 months in creation and came out with 45 completed songs. The most resonant of this material was edited down into the 20 tracks that make up DNWMIBIY, a fluid and adventurous listen. The album was produced by drummer James Krivchenia who initially pitched the recording concept for DNWMIBIY back in late 2019 with the goal of encapsulating the many different aspects of Adrianne’s songwriting and the band onto a single record.

TRACK LISTING

Change
Time Escaping
Spud Infinity
Certainty
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You
Sparrow
Little Things
Heavy Bend
Flower Of Blood
Blurred View
Red Moon
Dried Roses
No Reason
Wake Me Up To Drive
Promise Is A Pendulum
12,000 Lines
Simulation Swarm
Love Love Love
The Only Place
Blue Lightning

ARIA and BET nominated rapper and artist Tkay Maidza announces the highly anticipated follow-up to 2020’s ‘Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2’ (The Needle Drop’s #1 EP of the Year). ‘Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 3’ is the final act of Tkay’s EP trilogy, featuring eight new songs produced by long-time collaborator Dan Farber.

Tkay Maidza recently wrapped a stratospheric 2020 that propelled the Zimbabwe-born, Australia raised artist to new heights. From billboards in Times Square, to features in Pitchfork and Vogue and a placement on the FIFA Soundtrack, her ‘Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2’ EP presented a compelling new stride for the young artist whose craft spans genres. The ARIA-nominated EP for Best Soul/R&B Release received plaudits from the likes of Pitchfork, Stereogum, Crack, The Guardian and PAPER.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Weird-ass alt-RnB that's so meta you'll believe you've handed in all your chips for bitcoins.

TRACK LISTING

Eden
Onto Me (with UMI)
So Cold
Syrup
Kim (with Yung Baby Tate)
High Beams
Cashmere
Breathe

When Roberto Carlos Lange, the musician known as Helado Negro, began writing ‘Far In’ immediately following the release of his acclaimed 2019 ‘This is How You Smile’, he could not have predicted that we would soon need to learn how to stay at home and be the stars of our domestic dancefloors with intimate and online communities.

The titular pair in ‘Gemini and Leo’ stay indoors to discover each other anew with music recalling Lange’s youth growing up in South Florida listening to 80s club songs, and their return sampled in 90s hip-hop.

Visions past and future meet in a euphoria of uptempo drums, Jen Wasner’s (Flock of Dimes) funky bassline, and Opal Hoyt’s (Zenizen) galactic swirl of warm and steely synths and bright backing vocals.

What was a prophesying rehearsal for the musician will, we can hope, soon be our fresh start, a choice to bring that energy home, or go out to meet it.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: This is lush! I immediately tipped Ryan Horsebeach to it upon listening, as it finds a fine middle ground between Mac Demarco's lazy jangle and the Whitest Boy Alive. #AccidentalBalearic

TRACK LISTING

Wake Up Tomorrow
Gemini And Leo
Purple Tones
There Must Be A Song
Like You
Aguas Frías
Aureole
Hometown Dream
Agosto (Feat.Buscabulla)
Outside The Outside
Brown Fluorescence
Wind Conversations
Thank You For Ever
La Naranja
Telescope (Feat. Benamin)
Mirror Talk

Lucinda Chua is a singer, songwriter, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist based in South London. Primarily using her voice, a cello, and an array of effects units, Chua writes ambient pop songs that are intimate, atmospheric, and totally enchanting.

Whilst studying photography at university in Nottingham, Chua took an elective course in music production and the resulting experimental tracks she created and uploaded online caught the attention of US label kranky. Before long she was touring with Stars of the Lid as a cellist and string arranger and went on to release two albums with her first band Felix – all while barely into her 20s. After Felix broke up, Chua spent a few years in London exploring the city’s creative scene and began experimenting with the cello. Those explorations became her 2019 debut EP Antidotes 1 which flitted between hushed songwriting and expansive textural soundscapes and was released shortly before she joined FKA twigs’ live band for her Magdalene tour. Earning praise from Pitchfork, The Guardian, Dazed and gal-dem, Antidotes 1 led to Chua participating in NTS Radio’s Work In Progress scheme as well as performing one-person shows across the UK and Europe including Red Bull Music Festival London, MUTEK Barcelona, Tate Modern and Somerset House.

A sister release to Antidotes 1, Antidotes 2 expands Chua’s unique sonic vocabulary, with subliminal textures that bleed into each other before fading away. If Antidotes 1 was Chua building the landscape and scenery for her music, then Antidotes 2 is her living within it. Some of the songs were written during the same period whilst others, like EP opener ‘Until I Fall’, are brand new.

The vinyl edition of Antidotes will include both EPs.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Having played with ambient luminaries Stars Of The Lid as a cellist, it's no surprise that Chua's work is very much in the slow-moving ambient vein, but on 'Antidotes' we see her wonderful ear for production and singularly unique ambient talent come shining through. It's beguiling and emotive avant-classical with subtle elements of slow-moving synth, and is a sound all of her own.

TRACK LISTING

Feel Something
Whatever It Takes
Semitones
Somebody Who
Until I Fall
An Avalanche
Torch Song
Before

In 2020, 4AD turned 40. Never one to be on time for a party, the label is commemorating that landmark this year with the release of Bills & Aches & Blues.

The compilation features 18 of its current artists covering a song of their choosing from 4AD’s past: a creative experiment rooted in the spirit of collaboration and a snapshot of 4AD, 41 years after its inception.

Bills & Aches & Blues will be released on double LP and double CD on 23rd July. The first 12 months’ profits from Bills & Aches & Blues will be donated to The Harmony Project, a Los Angeles-based after-school programme for children from communities and schools that lack equitable access to studying the arts or music.

Bills & Aches & Blues’ 18 recordings contain fascinating connections between artist and track. The earliest song chosen (by U.S. Girls) is The Birthday Party’s ‘Junkyard’, from 1981; the most recent are the two Grimes covers (‘Genesis’ and ‘Oblivion’, respectively by Spencer. and Dry Cleaning) from 2012. Suitably, for the one band that bridges 4AD past and present, The Breeders are all over Bills And Aches And Blues. They’re covered three times – ‘Cannonball’ by Tune-Yards, ‘Mountain Battles’ by Bradford Cox of Deerhunter and ‘Off You’ by Big Thief, whilst The Breeders cover ‘The Dirt Eaters’ by their ‘90s contemporaries His Name Is Alive.

Landmark songs such as ‘Cannonball’, ‘Song To The Siren’ and Pixies’ ‘Where is My Mind?’, will feel comfortable to casual fans, however by contrast, much joy can be found in the album’s surprise choices, such as Air Miami’s ‘Seabird’ and the Lush B-side ‘Sunbathing’, covered respectively by new signings Maria Somerville and Jenny Hval.

Bills & Aches & Blues is named, arguably (as Elizabeth Fraser never published the lyrics) after the opening line of Cocteau Twins ‘Cherry-Coloured Funk’. Perhaps too unique and uncoverable in their own right, their legendary take on Tim Buckley’s ‘Song To The Siren’, under the name This Mortal Coil (along with Buckley’s pre-Starsailor acoustic version) informs SOHN’s cover.

Some tracks unearth hitherto hidden shared DNA, such as Future Islands’ and Colourbox’s ‘The Moon Is Blue’; other tracks are more akin to reinvention. Aldous Harding distils the melodic essence of Deerhunter’s ‘Revival’ and recasts it in her own uncanny image. U.S. Girls’ future-disco ‘Junkyard’ and Bing & Ruth’s neo-classical instrumental ‘Gigantic’ are even more radical interpretations. Leading off the album, Tkay Maidza brings both her Art Rap and R&B game, but also an unexpected ‘80s synth pop template, to Pixies’ ‘Where Is My Mind?’, a perfect title for these chaotic times.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1:
01 Tkay Maidza - Where Is My Mind? (Pixies)
02 U.S. Girls - Junkyard (The Birthday Party)
03 Aldous Harding - Revival (Deerhunter)
04 The Breeders - Dirt Eaters (His Name Is Alive)
05 Maria Somerville - Seabird (Air Miami)

Side 2:
06 Tune-Yards - Cannonball (The Breeders)
07 Spencer - Genesis (Grimes)
08 Helado Negro - Futurism (Deerhunter)
09 Efterklang - Postal (Piano Magic)
10 Bing And Ruth - Gigantic (Pixies)

Side 3:
11 Future Islands - The Moon Is Blue (Colourbox)
12 Jenny Hval - Sunbathing (Lush)
13 Dry Cleaning - Oblivion (Grimes)
14 Bradford Cox - Mountain Battles (Breeders)

Side 4:
15 SOHN - Song To The Siren (Tim Buckley)
16 Becky And The Birds - The Wolves Act I And II (Bon Iver)
17 Ex:Re - Misery Is A Butterfly (Blonde Redhead)
18 Big Thief - Off You (The Breeders)

Copenhagen-based songwriter and producer Erika de Casier has announced details of her second full-length studio album. Sensational, which includes recent singles ‘No Butterflies, No Nothing’ and ‘Drama’

Sensational expands the universe of de Casier’s 2019 self-released debut album Essentials. Where Essentials dealt more with the infatuation stages of love, Sensational has more of an attitude, aiming to dismantle the stereotype of single women looking for love, tackling relationship dramas and the toxicity of dating. It was a chance to rewrite scenarios in ways that empowered her, fantasising about what could’ve been. Sensational was co-produced by de Casier and is a breath of fresh air to anyone with a passion for music in all its genres, as much influenced by Aaliyah and Janet Jackson as house, garage and techno. With hushed, pillow-soft vocals and production that references turn-of-the-millenium sounds, de Casier’s sound surveys the past while looking to the future.

Born in Portugal to Belgian and Cape Verdean parents and raised in Denmark, Erika de Casier initially made her mark as an ally of the Regelbau collective (home to Danish house acts DJ Sports, C.K and Central) before writing, co-producing and releasing debut album, Essentials, through her own Independent Jeep label. Her take on 90s/00s R&B became a slow-burn success story and Essentials graced Best of 2019 lists at Mixmag, Gorilla vs. Bear, FACT, Dummy, and Crack Magazine.

TRACK LISTING

1. Drama
2. Polite
3. Make My Day
4. All You Talk About
5. Insult Me
6. No Butterflies, No Nothing
7. Someone To Chill With
8. Acceptance (intermezzo)
9. Better Than That
10. Friendly
11. Secretly
12. Busy
13. Call Me Anytime

Tkay Maidza is a tour de force on her new EP Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 2. Her sonic versatility takes centre stage on eight tracks that include spitfire summer anthem and lead single ‘Shook’, smooth boy-bye manifesto ‘Don’t Call Again (feat. Kari Faux)’ and trap-infused ‘Awake (feat. JPEGMAFIA)’, which was nominated for a 2019 ARIA award and earned a best of the decade nod from The Needle Drop, as well as praise from Pitchfork, The FADER, Dazed, Complex, and others. The EP follows 2018’s Last Year Was Weird, Vol. 1, which established her as an exciting voice in the new guard of hip-hop.

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: This is GOLD. Tkay Maidza brings the good stuff, firey R&B and faultless vocal. She's about to stride into the fame she deserves, watch this space.

TRACK LISTING

1. My Flowers
2. 24k
3. Shook
4. Awake (ft. JPEGMAFIA)
5. Grasshopper
6. You Sad
7. PB Jam
8. Don’t Call Again (ft. Kari Faux)

Musically, Dry Cleaning have been compared to the likes of The Fall and Sonic Youth as well as their contemporaries Squid, Shame and Yard Act, who are only some of the bands that have been riding the waves of the recent post punk resurgence. The London band combines repetitive bass lines with moody yet catchy guitar riffs and lecturer and visual artist Florence Shaw’s dry, monotone Sprechgesang.

Seemingly samey at first listen, it’s a record that keeps revealing more with each play. No matter how often you think you have shelved it, it will always make itself known again. Dry Cleaning’s lyrics are a combination of Shaw’s own writing and snippets of other people’s reflections she has come across - be it via real life conversations or on the internet, e.g. in the Youtube comment wormhole. Like a stream of consciousness they make for an interesting read / listen, with highlights aplenty. “I think of myself as a hardy banana with that waxy surface and the small delicate flowers / A woman in aviators firing a bazooka” reads one line. Complete absurdity or the mundanity of everyday life? Tongue in cheek or absolutely serious?

Whichever you think it is, you can’t help but be charmed by her deadpan attitude. One thing I can’t get on board with, however, are her outrageous nutritional opinions. “That seems like a lot of garlic” she muses in ‘Strong Feelings’. There’s never enough garlic.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Dry cleaning's wry humour and impeccable grasp of rhythm and mood permeates the entirety of their newest outing, 'New Long Leg'. Driven bassy groove and melodic guitar licks perfectly accentuate the sultry spoken word vocals, resulting in an impactful and dynamic whole.

TRACK LISTING

1. Scratchcard Lanyard
2. Unsmart Lady
3. Strong Feelings
4. Leafy
5. Her Hippo
6. New Long Leg
7. John Wick
8. More Big Birds
9. A.L.C
10. Every Day Carry

Tune-Yards announces details of their fifth studio album, sketchy. The 11-track record, which includes last year’s single ‘nowhere, man’, will be released on 26 March 2021, on 4AD.

Tune-Yards’ last release I can feel you creep into my private life, was a self-reflexive question mark at the end of a decade of outspoken, polyphonic indie music. From 2009 to 2018, Tune-Yards (both Merrill and her partner and collaborator Nate Brenner) released four critically acclaimed albums, travelled the world relentlessly to play live shows, and composed the psychedelic score to Boots Riley's surrealist cinematic masterpiece Sorry To Bother You. "We had really been non-stop hustling," Merrill reflects. "And when we're hustling, we're complicit in all of the systems that I really don't believe in."

Interrogating these systems and her role within them had left Merrill feeling heavy with grief and lost about how to move forward. The duo pressed on, inspired by the Beastie Boys Book and Questlove’s Creative Quest, and began jamming daily for hours in their home rehearsal studio “like athletes”. They ditched computer screens for live instruments (Merrill on drums, Nate on bass) and before long full songs started to emerge.

Unlike the lyrical introspection of previous outing I can feel you..., on sketchy. Merrill balances self-inspection and reflection with bombastic rallying cries, reminiscent of the furious tones of early days Tune-Yards. The result is a colourful and joyous record with lyrics that cut to the bone. "I started remembering that people come to us to be entertained, to move, to feel joy. And together, I think, we can wake up.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: 'Sketchy' brings the Tune Yards sound forward with a heavy af distillation of the restrained groove of their recent output, and the youthful exuberance of their early years, resulting in a wildly satisfying and rousing musical war cry. A brilliantly written and hugely varied gem.

TRACK LISTING

Nowhere, Man
Make It Right.
Hypnotized
Homewrecker
Silence Pt. 1 (when We Say “we”)
Silence Pt. 2 (who Is “we”?)
Hold Yourself.
Sometime
Under Your Lip
My Neighbor
Be Not Afraid.

Released a year before The National broke through with their third album Alligator, 2004’s Cherry Tree EP is a thrilling record which - thanks to its collection of delicate ballads and anthemic crowd-pleasers - sums up what they do best in under 30 minutes. Now a firm fan-favourite, among Cherry Tree’s seven tracks are now National classics ‘About Today’ and ‘All The Wine’, plus a thrilling live version of ‘Murder Me Rachael’ that reminds of the band’s fearsome early live performances. Cherry Tree can be seen as the record that marks the moment when The National had truly found themselves, a bridge from what went before to a band ready to conquer the World.

Having been remastered at Abbey Road Studios, the 2021 represses stay faithful to their original artwork while their stunning new masters help make these much-loved records sound as vital as ever, further emphasising the early signs of the sound that would go on to make them one of the fi nest and most beloved alternative bands of their generation.

TRACK LISTING

1. / A1. Wasp Nest
2. / A2. All The Wine
3. / A3. All Dolled-Up In Straps
4. / A4. Cherry Tree
5. / B1. About Today
6. / B2. Murder Me Rachael (Live)
7. / B3. Reasonable Man (I Don’t Mind)

The National’s second album, Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers (2003) proved a leap forward from 2001’s eponymous debut, showing a band adept at delivering warm embraces and gut punches in equal measure.

With word of mouth now spreading on the band, critics proved equally enthusiastic... Pitchfork in their glowing review called it a “Gorgeous train wreck” that “Lives up to its blunt title (with) Matt Berninger’s self-effacing barbs matched by the band’s equally potent hooks,” while Uncut also became early champions saying the album was “A genuine treasure... Livid as a bruise, this is brave, desperate, beautiful music.”

No longer a secret among those that know, Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers is an important record in The National’s discography with this new remaster showing that it’s more than standing the test of time.

Having been remastered at Abbey Road Studios, the 2021 represses stay faithful to their original artwork while their stunning new masters help make these much-loved records sound as vital as ever, further emphasising the early signs of the sound that would go on to make them one of the fi nest and most beloved alternative bands of their generation.

TRACK LISTING

1. / A1. Cardinal Song
2. / A2. Slipping Husband
3. / A3. 90-Mile Water Wall
4. / A4. It Never Happened
5. / A5. Murder Me Rachael
6. / B1. Thirsty
7. / B2. Available
8. / B3. Sugar Wife
9. / B4. Trophy Wife
10. / B5. Fashion Coat
11. / B6. Patterns Of Fairytales
12. / B7. Lucky You

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2021, The National’s self-titled debut album of sozzled Americana is a thing of beauty, laden with heavy hints that this was a special band in the making.

Their first release, The National arrived two years after The National formed, a time when they were juggling bandlife with needing to hold down full-time jobs. And while nods to the alt. rock artists that inspired them (Pavement, Silver Jews) can be heard, so too are the beginnings of something all their own – Matt Berninger’s stunning and unexpected lyrics being pinned to melodies that stop you in your tracks.

The National marks the start point for one of the best bands of their generation with its new master helping elevate it to new levels. A great primer to a great band.

Having been remastered at Abbey Road Studios, the 2021 represses stay faithful to their original artwork while their stunning new masters help make these much-loved records sound as vital as ever, further emphasising the early signs of the sound that would go on to make them one of the fi nest and most beloved alternative bands of their generation.

TRACK LISTING

1. / A1. Beautiful Head
2. / A2. Cold Girl Fever
3. / A3. The Perfect Song
4. / A4. American Mary
5. / A5. Son
6. / A6. Pay For Me
7. / B1. Bitters & Absolut
8. / B2. John’s Star
9. / B3. Watching You Well
10. / B4. Theory Of The Crows
11. / B5. 29 Years
12. / B6. Anna Freud

'Songs And Instrumentals' are two distinct collections, both written and recorded in April after Big Thief’s March tour was abruptly cut short due to coronavirus. After returning to the states from Europe, Lenker decamped to a one room cabin in the mountains of western Massachusetts.

The album’s stunning artwork are watercolor paintings done by Adrianne’s grandmother, Diane Lee.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There really is no stopping Lenker is there? (and why indeed would you want to?) 'Songs And Instrumentals' carries on the runaway success of Lenkers band, Big Thief but moves into the more subtle recesses of her songwriting prowess. Brittle in parts, but shining throughout, this is an accomplished and immersive outing.

TRACK LISTING

Songs
1. Two Reverse
2. Ingydar
3. Anything
4. Forwards Beckon Rebound
5. Heavy Focus
6. Half Return
7. Come
8. Zombie Girl
9. Not A Lot, Just Forever
10. Dragon Eyes
11. My Angel

Instrumentals
1. Music For Indigo
2. Mostly Chimes

The Lemon Twigs emerged in 2016 with their debut LP, Do Hollywood, which was praised by Rolling Stone for its “toting hooky songs that stand out for their intricate arrangements and delectable melodies” and NPR Music who mused, “like listening to music from a time that never was…a baroque rock romp.”

Their second album, Go To School is their most ambitious work yet; a conceptual musical, conceived by brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario, which tells a heartbreaking coming of age story of Shane, a pure of heart chimpanzee raised as a human boy as he comes to terms with the obstacles of life. Todd Rundgren and their real-life mother Susan Hall play Shane’s parents. The album also features contributions from Jody Stephens (Big Star), Natalie Mering (Weyes Blood) and their father Ronnie D’Addario.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Immediately reminiscent of all your favourite rock greats (you name it, the Lemon Twigs know it), but with a brilliantly innovative sense of pacing and style. Brilliantly mature and eccentrically conceptual, this is a killer LP from a band rising through the ranks quickly. Ace.

TRACK LISTING

Never In My Arms, Always In My Heart
The Student Becomes The Teacher
Rock Dreams
The Lesson
Small Victories
Wonderin' Ways
The Bully
Lonely
Queen Of My School
Never Know
Born Wrong/Heart Song
The Fire
Home Of A Heart (The Woods)
This Is My Tree
If You Give Enough
Go To School

Into The Labyrinth (1993) is Dead Can Dance’s sixth album, one of their most successful releases, its title a reference to the Greek legend of Theseus going into the Labyrinth to slay the Minotaur. It came when Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard had embarked on more individual personal paths, now writing their songs independent of one another, and on separate continents. Engineered and produced by Brendan at his Quivvy Church studio in Ireland, the album is an audiophile benchmark and also noted for being their first without any guests, instead they played all the instruments.

The 2016 LP version is also a double LP like the original release, but comes with brand new cover artwork and an altered track sequence.

Dead Can Dance’s fourth album, The Serpent’s Egg (1988), came during a prolific period for the band, being released just four years after their debut. It was also the first they made at their own studio which, according to Brendan Perry, allowed them to continue to grow in “their own self-proclaimed direction”. A minimal yet rather grandiose record which includes fan favourites ‘The Host Of Seraphim’ and ‘Ullyses’, The Serpent’s Egg is a triumph and perhaps the finest example of where Brendan and Lisa’s diametrically different influences are overcome to form a new, almost synaesthetic whole.

As Long As You Are looks to the past as well as the future, confronting old ghosts and embracing a new hope. It is an album about trust, full of honesty, redemption and “letting go”, allowing old wounds to heal and bringing painful chapters to a close.

As Long As You Are also signals a new era for Future Islands. Drummer Mike Lowry officially joins as a fully-fledged member and songwriter bolstering the founding trio of William Cashion, Samuel T. Herring and Gerrit Welmers. Together, the four-piece took on official production duties for the first time, co-producing As Long As You Are with engineer Steve Wright at his Wrightway Studios in Baltimore. Their brand of new wave synth-pop full of bright melodies and heavenly choruses is as euphoric and uninhibitedly joyful as anything the band has done in their 14-year career.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There is something absolutely enthralling about Samuel T. Herring's on-stage dancing. We all know that, but it's with no small amount of joy that I can confirm the quality of the music is indeed up to the same high standards. Longing, wistful and emotive, with electronic synthy sections beautifully offset with the more driven anthemic material. 'As Long As You Are' is a triumph, and quite possibly the best work they've done.

TRACK LISTING

Glada
For Sure
Born In A War
I Knew You
City’s Face
Waking
The Painter
Plastic Beach
Moonlight
Thrill
Hit The Coast

Featuring six never before heard tracks, Unremembered, Remembered is essentially the final album from The Wolfgang Press that never was. Having exhumed the tracks, the band have mastered their final studio sessions at Abbey Road and they sound magnificent. Art for this release has been done by long-time 4AD collaborator Chris Bigg. Originally released for Record Store Day in August 2020, this is now available as a limited edition one-off pressing on CD

TRACK LISTING

You Say You Love Me
God, Let It Shine On
My Mother Told Me
Black Hole Star
Liar
Miss H.I.V.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2020 RELEASE AVAILABLE ONLINE ONLY AS PART OF THE AUGUST 29TH DROP DAY AT 6PM.
LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

This one will be a real surprise for both Wolfgang Press and 4AD fans.Featuring 7 never before heard tracks, Unremembered, Remembered is essentially the final album from The Wolfgang Press that never was.Having exhumed the tracks, the band have mastered their final studio sessions at Abbey Road and they sound magnificent.Art for this release has been done by long-time 4AD collaborator Chris Bigg and news of the album's existence will drop with the RSD 2020 announcement.Red vinyl 1.You Say You Love Me 2.God, Let It Shine On 3.My Mother Told Me 4.Black Hole Star 5.Liar 6.Miss H.I.V.

The D’Addario brothers will return this Spring with their third Lemon Twigs album, Songs For The General Public - written, recorded and produced by the D’Addarios at their home studio in Long Island, Sonora Studios in Los Angeles and Electric Lady in New York City.

The prodigiously-talented brothers first emerged as The Lemon Twigs in 2016 with their debut LP Do Hollywood, whose showstopping melodies mined from every era of rock quickly earned fans in Elton John, Questlove, and Jack Antonoff. Go To School, the ambitious 15-track coming-of-age opus, followed in 2018 and solidified the band’s reputation for building grand walls of sound around an audacious concept.

Sam France of Foxygen writes, “The Twigs are legends - teen sensations, k pop stars, BrotherLovers, Twiggy Cola Lite. Their songs exist as cultural freebase. Cocaine, water, baking soda, and DNA. (o.k. )

While the White Smile Face People appoint Garage Girl, Digital Bass Face or Shitbag Boy as the new FreakoftheWeek, the Twigs have lived 26 cat lives from here to japan making real life bonafide Humans rejoice in the pagan art of Magick Pop Freebase. There are millions of fans, You see; the twigz are more Popular than You, they are Greater than Your Favorite Band, they are a phenomenon.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Lemon twigs carry all of the glam rock sensibilities of some of the greatest bands of the 80's but tempered with the sort of melodic tomfoolery that wouldn't sound out of date coming from Elton John. It's a baffling, and absolutely spellbinding combination, and serves to gain them fans from all over the musical spectrum. They're going to be huge, and this is further evidence to back that up.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hell On Wheels
2. Live In Favor Of Tomorrow
3. No One Holds You (Closer Than The One You Haven’t Met)
4. Fight
5. Somebody Loving You
6. Moon
7. The One
8. Only A Fool
9. Hog
10. Why Do Lovers Own Each Other?
11. Leather Together
12. Ashamed

Bing & Ruth, the ever-evolving project helmed by New York composer David Moore, has announced details of a new album, scheduled for release this summer. While on a surface level, Species is an exploration of the sonic possibilities of the Farfisa organ, aided only by a clarinet and double bass (played respectively by founding members Jeremy Viner and Jeff Ratner), the title Species is a nod to both humanity and humility – a devotion to the godly intuition with which we are all endowed, and the humbleness required of us to perceive it. It’s also about suspended time and trance; not just a steady movement from A to B, but as something that flows, meanders and eddies, like water.

Species, and the transcendental state it embodies, was inspired by two recent loves of Moore’s: the desert and long-distance running. Briefly relocating from his New York base to Point Dume, between the Pacific Ocean and the desert, Moore was able to indulge in both passions, which in turn provided stimulus for new work. He says, “I’d found myself in places unfamiliar enough that I could easily lose all sense of direction, size and, more than anything, all sense of time. The music I was making became a kind of reflection of these intentional detachments - and a place to mirror that feeling of trance that had pushed them out in the first place.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Shifting swathes of reverberated electronics, bright echoes and soaring synths slowly evolve into euphoric slo-mo key changes and aquatic phrases. It's an ambient lovers dream, and one that will be on my stereo for some time to come.

TRACK LISTING

Body In A Room
Badwater Psalm
I Had No Dream
Blood Harmony
Live Forever
The Pressure Of This Water
Nearer

4AD are repressing two more Cocteau Twins’ albums on vinyl this coming March, the albums Head Over Heels and Treasure. Both following on from the recent reissues of Blue Bell Knoll, Heaven or Las Vegas, Tiny Dynamine / Echoes In A Shallow Bay and The Pink Opaque.

Using new masters created from high definition files transferred from the original analogue tapes, both albums are being pressed on 180g heavyweight vinyl and come with download codes.

Head Over Heels:
Released in late-1983, Head Over Heels is the Cocteau Twins’ second album and features classic tracks ‘Sugar Hiccup’ and ‘Musette And Drums’. Coming not long after original bassist Will Heggie had departed the band, the chemistry between remaining members Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie was flourishing and by moving the band on from the starkness of their debut, they were now making the music that would help them define the decade ahead; her wordless, dreamlike vocals a powerful instrument over his lush, textured guitars their trademark.

TRACK LISTING

A1. When Mama Was Moth (3.06)
A2. Five Ten Fiftyfold (5.01)
A3. Sugar Hiccup (3.41)
A4. In Our Angelhood (3.0)
A5. Glass Candle Grenades (2.45)
B1. In The Gold Dust Rush (3.40)
B2. The Tinderbox (Of A Heart) (4.57)
B3. Multifoiled (2.37)
B4. My Love Paramour (3.40)
B5. Musette And Drums (4.38)

After more than five years, Purity Ring have returned to announce their third album, entirely produced and recorded by the duo of Megan James and Corin Roddick. Womb chronicles a quest for comfort, the search for a resting place in a world where so much is beyond our control. The striking vulnerability of “ruby insides” - “If I could, I would let you see through me” - charts a course that’s both intensely personal and deeply connected to those close to us, our kin whether by nature or nurture. As the ground shifts beneath their feet, Womb’s characters help one another face death, despair, and world-altering discovery with resilience and grace. For all the terrain it encompasses, Womb’s quest culminates in “stardew”, a glittering, transcendent invitation to “just be where you are” - to experience the kind of powerful peace that can only be found by truly coming home.

Womb follows Purity Ring’s 2012 internationally-acclaimed and highly influential debut Shrines and 2015’s another eternity. On another eternity, The New York Times praised the songs as “only a few steps removed from radio hits by singers like Ariana Grande and Ellie Goulding” while Rolling Stone called them “lustrous synth pop plus cavernous hip hop” and The New Yorker lauded the duo for “creat[ing] electro-pop that is as warm and human as it is cold and alien, an intoxicating combination that feels boldly futuristic.”

TRACK LISTING

Rubyinsides
Pink Lightning
Peacefall
I Like The Devil
Femia
Sinew
Vehemence
Silkspun
Almanac
Stardew

Garlands was the Cocteau Twins debut album, released in the early autumn of 1982. It was the only album they made with original bassist Will Heggie. Describing it as “haunting”, “spellbound”, “diaphanous”, and discerning a “frosting of sweetness”, the critics wore out their adjective; this was rock music - just - but it was conjured in the unlikeliest environment from the strangest of material. This is Garlands’ first vinyl pressing in over ten years, remastered from the original analogue tapes.

Victorialand, Cocteau Twins’ fourth album, was released in spring 1986. The largely acoustic, non-percussive album was made with Elizabeth and Robin, while Simon was working on This Mortal Coil's second album. Dif Juz label mate Richard Thomas guested on tabla and saxophone. The Guardian said "It’s not quite ambient, but it’s definitely not rock’n’roll even by the Cocteaus’ standards, building on the moments of guitar shimmer from the previous years’ EPs, while also stripping back at points to where it’s nothing but a Guthrie guitar line and Fraser’s voice."  Victorialand is remastered from the original analogue tapes.

Heavy Light is the highly anticipated seventh album by U.S. Girls, the protean musical enterprise of multi-disciplinary artist Meg Remy. While Remy has been widely acclaimed for a panoply of closely observed character studies, on Heavy Light she turns inward, recounting personal narratives to create a deeply introspective about-face. The songs are an inquest into the melancholy flavour of hindsight, both personal and cultural. Remy makes this notion formally explicit with the inclusion of three re-worked, previously released songs: ‘Statehouse (It’s A Man’s World)’, ‘Red Ford Radio’, and ‘Overtime’, the latter of which is released today as Heavy Light’s lead single. Its companion video, which stars Andrea Nann of the Dreamwalker Dance Company, was created by Remy.

Heavy Light follows 2018’s internationally critically-acclaimed breakout album In A Poem Unlimited. Recently named one of the best albums of the decade by Pitchfork, it was lauded across the pond by the likes of The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Crack and Q magazine for being Remy’s most accessible record in her then decade-long career. Heavy Light is produced by Remy and was recorded live with 20 session musicians - including E Street Band saxophonist Jake Clemons - in Montreal’s acclaimed Hotel 2 Tango studio. Remy worked with co-writers Basia Bulat and Rich Morel to develop the core of Heavy Light, a set of songs conceived as a balance between orchestral percussion (as richly arranged by percussionist Ed Squires) and the human voice (conducted by Kritty Uranowski). The resulting album finds Remy casting herself as lead voice among a harmonious multitude, the singers of which lend not only their voices, but also share reflections on childhood experiences that are collaged into moving spoken word interludes throughout the album. The album is mixed by long-time collaborators Maximilian ‘Twig’ Turnbull, Steve Chahley and Tony Price.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Grooving, psychedelic riffs clash headfirst with Remy's singular vocal brilliance, soaring wonderfully atop thumping percussion and flickering synths. 'Heavy Light' tackles political matters and worldly experiences in a moving and enthralling way. Brilliant stuff.

TRACK LISTING

1. 4 American Dollars
2. Overtime
3. IOU
4. Advice To Teenage Self
5. State House (It’s A Man’s World)
6. Born To Lose
7. And Yet It Moves / Y Se Mueve
8. The Most Hurtful Thing
9. Denise, Don’t Wait
10. Woodstock ‘99
11. The Color Of Your Childhood Bedroom
12. The Quiver To The Bomb
13. Red Ford Radio

mis·an·thrope /ˈmis(ə)nˌTHrōp,ˈmiz(ə)nˌTHrōp/, noun : a person who dislikes humankind and avoids human society.

An·thro·po·cene /ˈanTHrəpəˌsēn/ , noun : the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.

Miss Anthropocene : The Goddess of Climate Crisis An album by Grimes.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Some of the more propulsive pieces on Grimes' latest outing could easily have been on Art Angels or Visions, being wrapped in the same optimistic bounce that we've become used to, but the majority of the LP is a much more measured and sombre affair, rich with dark, trappy beats and (understandably), politically charged vitriol. A brilliant development for Grimes, and a great listen.

TRACK LISTING

1. So Heavy I Fell Through The Earth
2. Darkseid
3. Delete Forever
4. Violence
5. 4ÆM
6. New Gods
7. My Name Is Dark
8. You'll Miss Me When I'm Not Around
9. Before The Fever
10. IDORU

On the eve of a post-Thatcherite Britain, the Pale Saints, alongside the likes of Lush, Ride and Slowdive, were ushering in a new wave of British indie. And in 4AD, they found a perfect home for their music - an exciting & undeniable meld of noise and dream-pop.

Their debut album, The Comforts of Madness, didn’t disappoint, now standing as one of the best of its era. Pitchfork placed it in their Best 50 Shoegaze Albums Of All Time saying, “There’s a restless urgency, particularly when the volume swells and the rhythms intensify. That energy not only keeps (it) vital, it emphasizes Pale Saints’ inventiveness, how they channelled softness and rage into something distinctive.”

Nearly 30 years on and The Comforts of Madness is finally getting the reissue treatment. Having been remastered, a faithful LP repress on black vinyl is being released as well as double CD and double clear vinyl editions, both of which come with a bonus disc of previously unreleased demos and the band’s only John Peel Session, recorded in 1989.

STAFF COMMENTS

Javi says: This year, my new year’s resolution was “don’t buy records, save money instead”. Everything was going swimmingly for the first two weeks of January - until one grim Friday when ‘The Comforts of Madness’ received its 30th Anniversary reissue. Like a dry January defeated by an old friend’s 30th birthday bash, I cracked and splurged, and did so with good reason.

Visually, ‘The Comforts of Madness’ is instantly recognisable as a Vaughan Oliver creation. Familiar shapes and textures shimmer under a psychedelic sheen, all petals and whiskers and shadow; the tracklist splattered across the back like a mystic incantation (“way the fell. deep sleep, the sun. time in sight.” Amen.)

Opening track “Way The World Is” crashes in like a horseman of the apocalypse, while the much-anthologised “Sight Of You” still sounds every bit as fresh and swooning as Martin assures me it did 1990. Across the album, crushing shoegaze guitars ebb and flow, bass lines worm and drums fizz, only letting up for tender moments like the balladic “Little Hammer”. It’s a sprawling LP of ambitious indie, pushing both instruments and the mixing desk to extremes, masterfully streamlined into a near-continuous soundscape with each song graciously giving way to the next.

The bonus disc of unreleased live sessions and alternative recordings lifts the magic curtain slightly, revealing the band behind the sonic wizardry and dream-pop production - this version of Pale Saints is more earnest yet every bit as melodic, with shades of The Smiths, early MBV, and even The Beach Boys permeating the lower-fi recordings. They provide a warm and welcome counterpoint to the soaring album proper, and are well worth checking out and marvelling over.

‘The Comforts of Madness’ is from start to end, front to back, 1990 to 2020, a chaotic, ethereal, and epic work - and to these ears, at least, it might just be the 4AD album.

TRACK LISTING

Way The World Is
You Tear The World In Two
Sea Of Sound
True Coming Dream
Little Hammer
Insubstantial
A Deep Sleep For Steven
Language Of Flowers
Fell From The Sun
Sight Of You
Time Thief

2LP & 2CD

Way The World Is
You Tear The World In Two
Sea Of Sound
True Coming Dream
Little Hammer
Insubstantial
A Deep Sleep For Steven
Language Of Flowers
Fell From The Sun
Sight Of You
Time Thief
Sight Of You (Original Woodhouse Studio Version) *
Way The World Is (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
Language Of Flowers (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
You Tear The World In Two (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
Fell From The Sun (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
A Deep Sleep For Steven (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
Time Thief (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
Sea Of Sound (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
Insubstantial (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
Little Hammer (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
True Coming Dream (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
She Rides The Waves (John Peel Show Version) *
You Tear The World In Two (John Peel Show Version) *
Way The World Is (John Peel Show Version) *
Time Thief (John Peel Show Version) *

* = Previously Unreleased

Tune-Yards’ original score for Boots Riley’s acclaimed surrealist social satire 2018 film ‘Sorry To Bother You’ (starring Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson) has been praised by Billboard as “a simultaneously erratic and ecstatic medley of instruments and vocal layering”. Tune-Yards’ score album follows the 2018 release of ‘Sorry To Bother You: The Soundtrack’ by The Coup. Director Boots Riley described the score as “the film’s musical voice” and explains the difference between the score and the soundtrack: “The characters can’t hear [the score]; the soundtrack, the characters can [hear].” The score also includes dialogue samples from the film and four bonus tracks never before heard in the film. The bonus tracks feature up-and-coming Oakland artists including Chhoti Maa as well as Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truthspeaker.

TRACK LISTING

Transformative Experience
Study Up
STTS
SIGNS [Detroit’s Theme]
Regalview Theme
Money Money Money
Powercallers Suite
Mr. Green's Muzak
Let's Begin Again (Nit Not)
Does It Feel Good
Sad Theme
Revealed
Steve Lift's Party
Performance Art
Triumph
Love Theme
Play My Clip
This Is My White Voice
Does It Feel Good (Lucid Dream Mix)
The Reveal
Backbone

Gene Clark’s 1974 masterpiece gets the reappraisal it’s long overdue.

“One of the greatest albums ever made. Initially celebrated for its obscurity, No Other is now celebrated for its magnificence. It was in every way a magnum opus: epic, sprawling, poetic, choral, rococo.” The Guardian

On the eve of what would have been American singer-songwriter and Byrds founding member Gene Clark’s 75th birthday comes the reissue of one of his finest works, No Other. Released in 1974 on Asylum Records, a year after the Byrds shortlived reunion, Gene reached for the stars with No Other; a psychedelic rock, folk, country and soul record that famously cost a small fortune to make. Although received warmly by critics, it flopped and was soon deleted, a failure Gene never came to terms with.

However, as The New York Times wrote around the record’s 40th anniversary in 2014, “hindsight has burnished No Other, as it has redeemed other albums that went on to be reconstructed as rock repertory, like Big Star’s Third/Sister Lovers and Lou Reed’s Berlin,” with the album now being increasingly recognised as one of the greatest of its time, if not all time.

45 years on and recently remastered at Abbey Road, 4AD have given No Other the reappraisal it deserves. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Recently remastered at Abbey Road and 45 years on from its original release 4AD are giving Gene Clark’s 1974 masterpiece it’s long overdue reissue. Available on black vinyl, standard CD, a limited deluxe CD edition in a hardbound book cover, and an all encompassing and sumptuous silver box set containing vinyl, three SACD’s, Blu-Ray and an 80 page hardbound book.

TRACK LISTING

LP & CD Tracklist:
No Other (Remastered)
1. Life’s Greatest Fool
2. Silver Raven
3. No Other
4. Strength Of Strings
5. From A Silver Phial
6. Some Misunderstanding
7. The True One
8. Lady Of The North

2CD Tracklist:
No Other (Remastered)
1. Life’s Greatest Fool
2. Silver Raven
3. No Other
4. Strength Of Strings
5. From A Silver Phial
6. Some Misunderstanding
7. The True One
8. Lady Of The North

No Other (Sessions 1)
1. From A Silver Phial (Version 4)
2. Silver Raven (Version 2)
3. Some Misunderstanding (Version 3)
4. Life’s Greatest Fool (Version 2)
5. Train Leaves Here This Morning (Version 2)
6. Lady Of The North (Version 2)
7. The True One (Version 2)
8. Strength Of Strings (Version 2)
9. No Other (Version 2)

Deluxe Boxset Tracklist:
No Other (Remastered)
1. Life’s Greatest Fool
2. Silver Raven
3. No Other
4. Strength Of Strings
5. From A Silver Phial
6. Some Misunderstanding
7. The True One
8. Lady Of The North

No Other (Sessions 1)
1. From A Silver Phial (Version 4)
2. Silver Raven (Version 2)
3. Some Misunderstanding (Version 3)
4. Life’s Greatest Fool (Version 2)
5. Train Leaves Here This Morning (Version 2)
6. Lady Of The North (Version 2)
7. The True One (Version 2)
8. Strength Of Strings (Version 2)
9. No Other (Version 2)

No Other (Sessions 2)
1. From A Silver Phial (Version 1)
2. Life’s Greatest Fool (Version 1)
3. No Other (Version 1)
4. Lady Of The North (Version 1)
5. Some Misunderstanding (Version 1)
6. Silver Raven (Version 1)
7. Train Leaves Here This Morning (Version 1)
8. The True One (Version 1)
9. Strength Of Strings (Version 1)
10. Life’s Greatest Fool (Single Version)
11. Silver Raven (Single Edit)

Exclusive 7”
A. Life’s Greatest Fool (Single Version)
AA. Train Leaves Here This Morning (Version 1)

Documentary
The Byrd Who Flew Alone: The Making Of No Other By Paul Kendall
No Other (Alternate Audio Versions)
No Other (HD Audio Remaster)
No Other (5.1 Surround Mix)
No Other (1974 Vinyl Master)
No Other (2019 Stereo Remix

80 Page Hardbound Book
Extensive Liner Notes
Lyrics
Previously Unpublished Photographs
Essays By Andrew Perry, Jon Einarson, Johnny Rogan, Martin Aston & Sid Griffin.

Big Thief had only just finished work on their 3rd album, U.F.O.F. – “the celestial twin” – days before in a cabin studio in the woods of Washington State. Now it was time to birth U.F.O.F.’s sister album – “the earth twin” – Two Hands. 30 miles west of El Paso, surrounded by 3,000 acres of pecan orchards and only a stone’s throw from the Mexican border, Big Thief (a.k.a. Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, Max Oleartchik, and James Krivchenia) set up their instruments as close together as possible to capture their most important collection of songs yet. Where U.F.O.F. layered mysterious sounds and effects for levitation, Two Hands grounds itself on dried-out, cracked desert dirt.

In sharp contrast to the wet environment of the U.F.O.F. session, the southwestern Sonic Ranch studio was chosen for its vast desert location. The 105-degree weather boiled away any clinging memories of the green trees and wet air of the previous session. Two Hands had to be completely different— an album about the Earth and the bones beneath it. The songs were recorded live with almost no overdubs. All but two songs feature entirely live vocal takes, leaving Adrianne’s voice suspended above the mix in dry air, raw and vulnerable as ever. With raw power and intimacy, Two Hands folds itself gracefully into Big Thief’s impressive discography. This body of work grows deeper and more inspiring with each new album.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's October, and this is already the second Big Thief album this year. It would be understandable to think that such prolific creation would dilute the end product a little (it often does...) but in the case of Lenker, Meek and co, it couldn't be further from the truth. Arresting, heartfelt and beautiful throughout. Yet another stunning outing from the unstoppable Big Thief.

TRACK LISTING

1.Rock And Sing
2. Forgotten Eyes
3. The Toy
4. Two Hands
5. Those Girls
6. Shoulders
7. Not
8. Wolf
9. Replaced
10. Cut My Hair

Altid Sammen (meaning “always together”) is deep and sonorous, steeped in the sonic experimentation that has long been their trademark since Tripper, the Danes’ 2004 debut. As bold and ambitious in scope as their last collection of songs, Piramida, Casper Clausen (vocals), Mads Brauer (synths, electronics) and Rasmus Stolberg (bass) have taken another creative U-turn, this time fusing baroque instrumentation with their signature expansive sound.

Efterklang’s last release, Piramida, centred around a ghost town in the Arctic, was a grand and all-encompassing project that spawned a movie, live album and a series of unforgettable shows (including a live debut at the Sydney Opera House). Their final performance in Sønderborg – the southern Danish town where the band grew up – marked a closing of a chapter, for Piramida and for Efterklang.

“We needed a break from the album and touring routine, and we needed a break from Efterklang,” says Clausen. “After the Sønderborg show, things felt very exciting – and a bit scary too. We could think freely, and move in new directions again, just focusing on the things that excited the 3 of us.”

That break saw the trio explore projects outside of the group’s confines. Together they co-wrote and performed an opera with friend and composer Karsten Fundal (LEAVES, The Colour Of Falling) as part of the Copenhagen Opera Festival. Meanwhile, Clausen, Brauer and Stolberg reunited with Efterklang’s touring drummer Tatu Rönkkö for a new band, Liima. In sharp contrast to Efterklang, they scaled down the music process, creating songs in a day, and released two records of icy, grand electronic pop, ii (2016) and 1982 (2017).

What lured them back as Efterklang was another off-kilter collaboration, this time with B.O.X, a Belgian ensemble founded by lute player Pieter Theuns that performs new music with baroque orchestration. Initially invited by Theuns to compose music for a joint performance, the experience inspired and invigorated the trio to return to the studio for a new Efterklang album proper. For perhaps the first time in the band’s history, they took a less-is-more approach to Altid Sammen, engaging on a more primal and emotional level. The album also sees the trio break from tradition with Clausen singing in his mother tongue some of his most personal lyrics thus far.

“Altid Sammen’s songs are about belief and togetherness,” Clausen says. “Not in a religious way – none of us are believers of a defined religion. The words are searching for meaning in intimate relationships, in nature, in death and eternity. The bonds we create; to gather, hold hands, sing or share a moment together. We’re all connected, across nations, age, sex and gender. We come together with all of our backgrounds, and we move apart in all sorts of directions, always together.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I've loved Efterklang for some time now, and it really has been fascinating to see the trajectory of the core band and their former members (Peter Broderick being one of them!). Their newest outing takes the morose poppy melodies of Piramida with some of the electronic scree of their earlier work, and it's a perfectly measured and completely brilliant electronic pop LP. Superb as ever from Clausen & co.

TRACK LISTING

Vi Er Uendelig
Supertanker
Uden Ansigt
I Dine øjne
Hænder Der åbner Sig
Verden Forsvinder
Under Broen Der Ligger Du
Havet Løfter Sig
Hold Mine Hænder

On Neon Brown, Velvet Negroni is a griot relaying the life and times of his own island—it’s a singular place, with the squeak and thrum of guitar strings looped over drum machine beats accented by steely marimbas, all creating a pocket for one of the most authentic and original artistic voices ever committed to tape.

You follow his voice as it rhymes in double time, or hiccups and la-las through a break, or croons from a room down the hall, as it unfolds into another story of lost love, or another joke about lost drugs, as he tries to make sense of a life spent in the (sometimes harrowing) pursuit of communion.

Turns out what sounds like a lonely island is in fact the city of Minneapolis. Velvet Negroni grew up in an outer suburb of the Twin Cities as Jeremy Nutzman, a black kid adopted into a white evangelical Christian family. His fundamentalist missionary of a mother drove him to virtuosity, both as a classically trained concert pianist and a competitive figure skater, but he had to climb out his bedroom window to play guitar in his first band.

In 2016 after years of performing under a schizophrenic rotation of various aliases, Nutzman finally landed on a persona that he felt he could be proud of. It was in a fancy cocktail bar in Austin, Texas that he hatched Velvet Negroni. A tour opening for Bon Iver followed, as well as a writing credit on Kid Cudi and Kanye West’s “Feel the Love” off their 2018 album Kids See Ghosts. That same year, he released his first singles on b4, “First Time” and “Crybaby.”

It was in the summer of 2018, together with his friends, producers Psymun (Future, Young Thug, Dua Saleh) and Tickle Torture, that Velvet Negroni composed the stories on NEON BROWN, stories he’s been waiting a lifetime to tell.

TRACK LISTING

1. One One
2. Wine Green
3. Kurt Cobain
4. Poster Child
5. Confetti
6. U.Dunno
7. Choir Boy
8. Scratchers
9. Nester
10. Feel Let
11. Ectodub

Although love lives at the heart of her second album, it has little to do with romance. Small Mercies is absolutely not a heartbreak record, nor is it a celebration of new love, or sisterly call-to-arms or vengeful catharsis. Instead, it is a series of poetic examinations of love across the experiential spectrum, from the micro (self-love) to the macro (devotional faith-inspired love, love for this planet), set to a soundtrack that mixes electronic pop and grungy guitar rock with aplomb.

Small Mercies follows the 23 year-old’s debut album, The Age Of Anxiety (2017) – an unsettling synth-pop record fuelled by Pixx’s own debilitating experience of angst – and 2015’s forlorn and folk-edged Fall In EP. Co-produced by Simon Byrt (who worked on both her EP and debut album) and Dan Carey, it sees Pixx assuming different personas to examine the damage done by religion, gender-based power hierarchies and stereotypes, the tipping point of Earth’s destruction and love.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It genuinely surprised me that Pixx (nom-de-plume of London-based Hannah Rodgers) weren't from Australia because the sound is a perfect addition to the punky, snarling catalogue of artists like Courtney Barnett or Stella Donnelly, rich with attitude and brimming with superb songs, delivered with confidence and wit.

TRACK LISTING

Andean Condor
Bitch
Disgrace
Small Mercies
Peanuts Grow Underground
Funsize
Dirt Interlude Pt. 1
Mary Magdalene
Hysterical
Eruption 24
Dirt Interlude Pt. 2
Duck Out
Blowfish

I Am Easy To Find is the band’s eighth studio album and the follow-up to 2017’s GRAMMY®-award winning release Sleep Well Beast. A companion short film with the same name will also be released with music by The National and inspired by the album. The film was directed by Academy Award-nominated director Mike Mills (20th Century Women, Beginners), and starring Academy Award Winner Alicia Vikander. Mills, along with the band, is credited as co-producer of the album, which was mostly recorded at Long Pond, Hudson Valley, NY with additional sessions in Paris, Berlin, Cincinnati, Austin, Dublin, Brooklyn and more far flung locations. The album features vocal contributions from Sharon Van Etten, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Lisa Hannigan, Mina Tindle and more.

I Am Easy to Find is a 24-minute film by Mills starring Alicia Vikander, and a 68-minute album by the National. The former is not the video for the latter; the latter is not the soundtrack to the former. The two projects are, as Mills calls them, “Playfully hostile siblings that love to steal from each other”—they share music and words and DNA and impulses and a vision about what it means to be human in 2019, but don’t necessarily need one another. The movie was composed like a piece of music; the music was assembled like a film, by a film director. The frontman and natural focal point was deliberately and dramatically sidestaged in favour of a variety of female voices, nearly all of whom have long been in the group’s orbit. It is unlike anything either artist has ever attempted and also totally in line with how they’ve created for much of their careers.

As the album’s opening track, ‘You Had Your Soul With You,’ unfurls, it’s so far, so National: a digitally manipulated guitar line, skittering drums, Berninger’s familiar baritone, mounting tension. Then around the 2:15 mark, the true nature of I Am Easy To Find announces itself: The racket subsides, strings swell, and the voice of long-time David Bowie bandmate Gail Ann Dorsey booms out—not as background vocals, not as a hook, but to take over the song. Elsewhere it’s Irish singer-songwriter Lisa Hannigan, or Sharon Van Etten, or Mina Tindle or Kate Stables of This Is the Kit, or varying combinations of them. The Brooklyn Youth Choir, whom Bryce Dessner had worked with before. There are choral arrangements and strings on nearly every track, largely put together by Bryce in Paris—not a negation of the band’s dramatic tendencies, but a redistribution of them.

“Yes, there are a lot of women singing on this, but it wasn't because, ‘Oh, let's have more women's voices,’ says Berninger. “It was more, ‘Let's have more of a fabric of people's identities.’ It would have been better to have had other male singers, but my ego wouldn't let that happen.”

TRACK LISTING

1. You Had Your Soul With You
2. Quiet Light
3. Roman Holiday
4. Oblivions
5. The Pull Of You
6. Hey Rosey
7. I Am Easy To Find
8. Her Father In The Pool
9. Where Is Her Head
10. Not In Kansas
11. So Far So Fast
12. Dust Swirls In Strange Light
13. Hairpin Turns
14. Rylan
15. Underwater
16. Light Years

Side 5 On Deluxe Triple – Contains 22 Minutes Of Music From The I Am Easy To Find Original Film Score – EXCLUSIVE To This Format.
Side 6 On 3LP - Etching.

Holly’s third full-length album "Proto" isn’t about A.I., but much of it was created in collaboration with her own A.I. baby, 'Spawn'. For the album, she assembled a contemporary ensemble of vocalists, developers and an inhuman intelligence housed in a DIY souped-up gaming PC to create a record that encompasses live vocal processing and timeless folk singing, and places an emphasis on alien song craft and new forms of communion. "Proto" makes reference to what Holly refers to as the protocol era, where rapidly surfacing ideological battles over the future of A.I. protocols, centralised and decentralised internet protocols, and personal and political protocols compel us to ask ourselves who are we, what are we, what do we stand for, and what are we heading towards?

"Eternal" follows the 2018 release of Holly and Jlin’s collaborative song "Godmother (feat. Spawn)". The skittering track, which was created by Spawn reimagining the artworks of her 'godmother' Jlin in a trained model of her mother’s voice with no editing or sample trickery, was praised everywhere from NPR to The Guardian to New York Times, and elsewhere. You can hear traces of Spawn throughout the album, developed in partnership with long time collaborator Mathew Dryhurst and ensemble developer Jules LaPlace, and even eavesdrop on the live training ceremonies conducted in Berlin, in which hundreds of people were gathered to teach Spawn how to identify and reinterpret unfamiliar sounds in group call-and-response singing sessions; a contemporary update on the religious gathering Holly was raised amongst in her upbringing in East Tennessee.

'There’s a pervasive narrative of technology as dehumanizing,' says Holly. 'We stand in contrast to that. It’s not like we want to run away; we’re very much running towards it, but on our terms. Choosing to work with an ensemble of humans is part of our protocol. I don’t want to live in a world in which humans are automated off stage. I want an A.I. to be raised to appreciate and interact with that beauty.'

Since her arrival in 2012, Holly has successfully mined the edges of electronic and avant garde pop and emerged with a dynamic and disruptive canon of her own, all while studying for her soon-to-be-completed PhD at Stanford University, researching machine learning and music. Her LP "Platform" closed out 2015 by gracing year-end lists from Pitchfork, The Guardian, NME, and The Wire. In the aftermath, Radiohead hand-picked her to open up their European tour. Just as "Platform" forewarned of the manipulative personal and political impacts of prying social media platforms long before popular acceptance, "Proto" is a euphoric and principled statement setting the shape of things to come.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Someone call Elon Musk! Holly Herdon offering the machines some piecework here, enlisting the ghosts of Terminator 2 to concoct a really quite cerebral piece of haunted-electronic-folk experimentation. Scared? You should be!

TRACK LISTING

01. Birth
02. Alienation
03. Canaan (Live Training)
04. Eternal
05. Crawler
06. Extreme Love (with Lily Anna Haynes And Jenna Sutela)
07. Frontier
08. Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt
09. SWIM
10. Evening Shades (Live Training)
11. Bridge (with Martine Syms)
12. Godmother (with Jlin)
13. Last Gasp

U.F.O.F., F standing for ‘Friend’, is the name of the highly anticipated third record by Big Thief, set to be released by 4AD on May. It was recorded in rural western Washington at Bear Creek Studios with engineer Dom Monks, and producer Andrew Sarlo who was also behind their previous albums.

The New York-based band, featuring Adrianne Lenker (guitar, vocals), Buck Meek (guitar), Max Oleartchik (bass), and James Krivchenia (drums), has spent the last 4 years on an incessant world tour, winning the devotion of an enthusiastic and rapidly expanding audience.

Their songs represent an emotional bravery and realness that weaves intimate relationships with the listener, a phenomenon that has made them one of the most widely-respected bands of the current era.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Big Thief are one of our favourites in Piccadilly, and this latest iteration of their sound really shows why. Skilfully toeing the line between mournful acoustic balladry, simmering country and more upbeat melodic indie, Big Thief have once again brought us an eminently listenable and transportative triumph.

TRACK LISTING

1. Contact
2. UFOF
3. Cattails
4. From
5. Open Desert
6. Orange
7. Century
8. Strange
9. Betsy
10. Terminal Paradise
11. Jenni
12. Magic Dealer

Aldous Harding releases her third album, Designer. Designer finds the New Zealander hitting her creative stride. After the sleeper success of the internationally lauded Party, Harding came off a 100-date tour last summer and went straight into the studio with a collection of songs written on the road.

Reuniting with John Parish, producer of Party, Harding spent 15 days recording and 10 days mixing at Rockfield Studios, Monmouth and Bristol’s J&J Studio and Playpen. From the bold strokes of opening track ‘Fixture Picture’, there is an overriding sense of an artist confident in their work, with contributions from Huw Evans (H. Hawkline), Stephen Black (Sweet Baboo), drummer Gwion Llewelyn and violinist Clare Mactaggart broadening and complimenting Harding’s rich and timeless songwriting.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another stunning LP from Harding here, being a favourite in the shop, we're no newbies to her own brand of rhythmic country-tinged melodic indie, but this time around we get the Welsh input from Huw Hawkline and Steve Baboo, both acts i'm well accustomed with from my time in Cardiff, and both perfectly fitting in to Harding's musical world. Beautiful stuff.

TRACK LISTING

1. Fixture Picture
2. Designer
3. Zoo Eyes
4. Treasure
5. The Barrel
6. Damn
7. Weight Of The Planets
8. Heaven Is Empty
9. Pilot

Gallipoli, Beirut’s fifth album, started life when Zach Condon returned to his old Farfisa organ, the same one he used to write his first two albums, Gulag Orkestar (2006) and The Flying Club Cup (2007). After stints writing and recording in both New York and Berlin, with time for Zach to recover from a broken arm factored in, band plus producer Gabe Wax (Speedy Ortiz, Soccer Mommy, Adrianne Lenker / Big Thief) headed to Puglia in Italy to finish the album.

With the remote rural setting “the right amount of isolated”, an intense month of 12 to 16-hour days in the studio with day trips around the coastline followed. Inspired by the surroundings, Gallipoli is unintentionally more visceral than Beirut’s more recent albums, alive with an energy that is further enhanced by every creak and groan of their instruments, every detuned note, and all amp buzz and technical malfunction being left in the cracks of the songs.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There's always been something mesmerising about Beirut, their exotic choice of rhythms and instrumentation coalescing with their minimal songwriting style and almost ethereal vocal projection. You'll be delighted to know that this one is every bit the excellent follow-up to 2015's 'No No No', and (thankfully) a little longer. Superb stuff.

TRACK LISTING

When I Die
Gallipoli
Varieties Of Exile
On Mainau Island
I Giardini
Gauze Für Zah
Corfu
Landslide
Family Curse
Light In The Atoll
We Never Lived Here
Fin

Elena Tonra, guitarist, vocalist and lyricist of Daughter, has announced details of a solo project. Running parallel to Daughter, she’s assumed the pseudonym Ex:Re (pronounced ex ray) for her eponymously-titled debut solo album, a deeply personal record that was made with both a sense of urgency and a cathartic need. Just finished, it’s being released with equal speed and will be out digitally on 30th November

Tonra’s candid solo songs document the time after a relationship ended and are written like unsent letters to herself and others. Taking on a creative moniker, she chose Ex:Re to mean ‘regarding ex’ and also ‘X-Ray’ as a way to look inside and see what is really there. Writing took a year but the recording process lasted mere months, turning to Fabian Prynn (4AD’s in-house engineer and producer) and composer Josephine Stephenson on cello to help bring Ex:Re to life.

Elena said of the album, “Although the record is written for someone, a lot of the time it’s about the space without that person in it. In every scenario, there's either the person in memory or the noticeable absence of that person in the present moment. I suppose it is a break-up record, however I do not talk about the relationship at all, and he hardly features in the scenes. He is only felt as a ghostly presence.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Daughter were one of the most refreshing bands to come out a good few years ago, and this Solo album from haunting voiced singer, Elena Tonra is a beautiful and comfortingly different outlet for her undeniable vocal and songwriting talents. Beautiful.

TRACK LISTING

Where The Time Went
Crushing
New York
Romance
The Dazzler
Too Sad
Liar
I Can't Keep You
5AM
My Heart

As thrilling and unpredictable as anything in Deerhunter’s near 15-year career, Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared? was recorded in several strategic geographic points across North America, and produced by the band, Cate LeBon, Ben H. Allen III, and Ben Etter. Forgetting the questions and making up unrelated answers, Deerhunter’s eighth LP is a science fiction album about the present. Exhausted with the toxic concept of nostalgia, they reinvent their approach to microphones, the drum kit, the harpsichord, the electromechanical and synthetic sounds of keyboards. Whatever guitars are left are pure chrome, plugged straight into the mixing desk with no amplifier or vintage warmth.

STAFF COMMENTS

Javi says: Is it a guitar? Is it a synth? Is it some old-time harpsichord-y thing plugged through a sh*t-ton of reverb? Your guess is as good as mine. The only thing for sure is that indie darlings Deerhunter have created their most consistent and nuanced album since 2010’s ‘Halcyon Digest’ in their seventh LP, ‘Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?’.
With fellow Top 20 maverick Cate Le Bon at the production helm, there’s nothing the band can’t do—whimsical groove-laced indie and atmospheric expansiveness are married perfectly on songs like the opener “What Happens to People?” and penultimate bop “Plains”, and just as the voice of God bids us good morning on “Detournement”, guitarist Lockett Pundt’s sole offering “Tarnung” is already preparing to tuck us into bed.
Every song is a stutter-funk gem, a space-age exploration of pastoral life, a strutting jaunt into the end of days. Every song is a grower, and boy, how big they grow…

TRACK LISTING

1. Death In Midsummer
2. No One’s Sleeping
3. Greenpoint Gothic
4. Element
5. What Happens To People?
6. Détournement
7. Futurism
8. Tarnung
9. Plains
10. Nocturne

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
Tune-Yards - Coast To Coast (U.S. Girls Remix) (4:35)

Side AA:
U.S. Girls - Velvet For Sale (Tune-Yards Remix) (3:44)

This Mortal Coil was the given name of a strictly-studio project that spawned three albums, conceived and produced by one-time 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell.

Over the span of eight years he, along with Blackwing Studios house engineer/ co-producer, John Fryer, and a rotating cast of musicians, created original works, musical links and reinterpretations of impeccably curated songs; introducing a new audience to the talents of a previous generation including Big Star, Tim Buckley, Roy Harper, Spirit, Gene Clark, Dino Valenti, Rain Parade, Emmylou Harris, Syd Barrett and Colin Newman, amongst others.

Released two years after their debut album, This Mortal Coil’s Filigree & Shadow (1986) was no less ornate than its predecessor; a double album with each of its four sides a self-contained unit.

New faces joined the cast for this record, including a variety of singers Ivo handpicked like Alison Limerick, Jeanette, Dominic Appleton (Breathless), sisters Deirdre and Louise Rutkowski (Sunset Gun), and Richenel.

An intense listen, The Quietus called it “tortured yet oddly euphoric… (music which) could easily rip flimsy souls apart.”

TRACK LISTING

A1. Velvet Belly
A2. The Jeweller
A3. Ivy And Neet
A4. Meniscus
A5. Tears
A6. Tarantula

B1. My Father
B2. Come Here My Love
B3. At First, And Then
B4. Strength Of Strings
B5. Morning Glory

C1. Inch-Blue
C2. I Want To Live
C3. Mama K (1)
C4. Filigree & Shadow
C5. Fire Brothers
C6. Thaïs (1)
C7. I Must Have Been Blind
C8. A Heart Of Glass

D1. Alone
D2. Mama K (2)
D3. The Horizon Bleeds And Sucks Its Thumb
D4. Drugs
D5. Red Rain
D6. Thaïs (2) 

This Mortal Coil was the given name of a strictly-studio project that spawned three albums, conceived and produced by one-time 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell.

Over the span of eight years he, along with Blackwing Studios house engineer/ co-producer, John Fryer, and a rotating cast of musicians, created original works, musical links and reinterpretations of impeccably curated songs; introducing a new audience to the talents of a previous generation including Big Star, Tim Buckley, Roy Harper, Spirit, Gene Clark, Dino Valenti, Rain Parade, Emmylou Harris, Syd Barrett and Colin Newman, amongst others.

Landing at the start of a new decade, after much had happened in both producer Ivo Watts-Russell’s life and with his 4AD label, the final part of the This Mortal Coil trilogy, Blood (1991), felt like a perfect conclusion.

Meticulously orchestrated, vocalists Alison Limerick, Deirdre and Louise Rutkowski return from the second album with Caroline Crawley (Shelleyan Orphan / Babacar) and 4AD signees Heidi Berry, Kim Deal (Pixies / The Breeders), Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses / The Breeders / Belly) and Pieter Nooten all enlisted.

“Shedding some of its chillier post-punk components, blossoming into material airy and gorgeous. Covers — many from the psychedelic era — still dominate the material, but they are largely indistinguishable from the originals, so seamless is (it’s) indelible tone. Blood is a treasure.” Consequence of Sound

TRACK LISTING

A1. The Lacemaker
A2. Mr. Somewhere
A3. Andialu
A4. With Tomorrow
A5. Loose Joints
A6. You And Your Sister

B1. Nature’s Way
B2. I Come And Stand At Every Door
B3. Bitter
B4. Baby Ray Baby
B5. Several Times

C1. The Lacemaker II
C2. Late Night
C3. Ruddy And Wretched
C4. Help Me Lift You Up
C5. Carolyn’s Song
C6. D. D. And E.

D1. ‘Til I Gain Control Again
D2. Dreams Are Like Water
D3. I Am The Cosmos
D4. (Nothing But) Blood

This Mortal Coil was the given name of a strictly-studio project that spawned three albums, conceived and produced by one-time 4AD founder Ivo Watts-Russell.

Over the span of eight years he, along with Blackwing Studios house engineer/ co-producer, John Fryer, and a rotating cast of musicians, created original works, musical links and reinterpretations of impeccably curated songs; introducing a new audience to the talents of a previous generation including Big Star, Tim Buckley, Roy Harper, Spirit, Gene Clark, Dino Valenti, Rain Parade, Emmylou Harris, Syd Barrett and Colin Newman, amongst others.

This Mortal Coil’s debut album It’ll End In Tears (1984) forged the template; helping to crystallise 4AD’s emerging signature sound whilst shining a light on some of their stable with Cocteau Twins, Colourbox, Dead Can Dance and The Wolfgang Press all involved. The line-up was completed by arranger Martin McCarrick, violinist Gini Ball, Howard Devoto of Buzzcocks / Magazine fame and Cindytalk’s Gordon Sharp.

Pitchfork recently named it one of the best Dream Pop albums ever, a moment which “catalysed 4AD’s ascendance from the stilted poetics of goth rock to the kings of gauzy transcendence.”

TRACK LISTING

A1. Kangaroo
A2. Song To The Siren
A3. Holocaust
A4. Fyt
A5. Fond Affections
A6. The Last Ray

B1. Another Day
B2. Waves Become Wings
B3. Barramundi
B4. Dreams Made Flesh
B5. Not Me
B6. A Single Wish

Late 2018 will mark the 40th anniversary of Bauhaus. To celebrate, Beggars Arkive is reissuing six records from the band’s catalogue on limited edition coloured vinyl.

Formed in 1978, The legendary and hugely influential quartet hailed from Northampton, England and is comprised of Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins. The dark, dramatic music that they made, possessed far more force, variety and playfulness than the "founding fathers of goth" tag that is always attached to them.

Bauhaus' landmark debut album, In the Flat Field, came out towards the end of 4AD's first eventful year. Following the plan at the time, the band then "moved upstairs" to Beggars Banquet, for whom they cut three further albums before dissolving in 1983. They charted with their cover of David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust”, they’ve been and namechecked by everyone from Nine Inch Nails, Sepultura, Janes Addiction, MGMT, Interpol, Bjork, Nirvana and more. They remain a huge cult concern, periodically reforming to wow their legions of dedicated followers.

In The Flat Field is the band’s debut studio album, released by 4AD and considered to be one of the very first “goth” albums.

This was mastered from HD audio files transferred from the original tapes.

“this record’s influence on the impending goth scene cannot be underestimated or denied” – Drowned In Sound

TRACK LISTING

Double Dare
In The Flat Field
A God In An Alcove
Dive
The Spy In The Cab
Small Talk Stinks
St. Vitus Dance
Stigmata Martyr
Nerves

30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Pixies’ Debut EP and Album, Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa, includes Bonus 1986 Radio Concert Live From The Fallout Shelter

“An unparalleled example of rule-smashing innovation in independent music.” Pitchfork

“Smack in between hardcore punk and alternative, their secret weapon was leaping from sweet to screaming, driving a spike into Eighties rock.” Rolling Stone

“Surfer Rosa quickly cemented itself as a must-have album (and) 30 years on, its aged into timelessness rather than becoming a period piece.” The Quietus

It’s been thirty years since the release of Surfer Rosa – a record made up of rage, religion, gore, incest and superheroes named Tony – a debut album so good that it’s since seen as a masterpiece. A year prior came Come On Pilgrim, an eight-track mini-album released in 1987 which contained cuts culled from their first ever studio session, where they famously recorded seventeen tracks in just three days (in full, this session makes up the band’s much bootlegged and now officially released The Purple Tape).

These formative records showed the Pixies to be an alien breed; four oddball outsiders from Boston blending US underground thrash rock, indie surf pop and Spanish-language flamenco with the Biblical mythology of Frances’s childhood. They would go on to record another masterpiece in 1989’s Doolittle but it’s the gruesome glory of Surfer Rosa, and the ruined sexuality of its cover image (a topless flamenco dancer in a crumbling Mexican bar) that set a fresh blueprint for an indie rock dynamism that not only planted the seeds of grunge (Kurt Cobain would admit that he was trying to imitate the record while writing Nevermind) but of much of the best rock music made since.

To celebrate this milestone, Pixies are playing fi ve sold-out intimate shows at London’s Roundhouse this October and preceding them is the release of Come On Pilgrim… It’s Surfer Rosa, the thirtieth anniversary edition which contains Come On Pilgrim, Surfer Rosa and Live From The Fallout Shelter, a concert-cum-session that first aired in late-1986 on WJUL in Lowell, MA.

In addition to both a three CD and three LP edition, there’s also a super-limited and stunning deluxe clothbound hardbook three LP version, which will be a must for all fans. Like all other Pixies sleeves, Vaughan Oliver returns as designer, stunningly reinterpreting his original artwork with Simon Larbalestier’s iconic photographs remaining these record’s crowning glory.

TRACK LISTING

CD1/LP1
Caribou
Vamos (Pilgrim)
Isla De Encanta
Ed Is Dead
The Holiday Song
Nimrod's Son
I've Been Tired
Levitate Me

CD2/LP2
Bone Machine
Break My Body
Something Against You
Broken Face
Gigantic
River Euphrates
Where Is My Mind?
Cactus
Tony's Theme
Oh My Golly!
Vamos (Surfer Rosa)
I'm Amazed
Brick Is Red

CD3/LP3
Holiday Song (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
I'm Amazed (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Rock A My Soul (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Isla De Encanta (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Caribou (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Broken Face (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Subbacultcha (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Build High (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Ed Is Dead (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Nimrod's Son (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Down To The Well (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
I've Been Tired (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Boom Chicka Boom (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Vamos (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
In Heaven (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Pixies Interview (Live From The Fallout Shelter) (CD Only)

Released in the immediate aftermath of the runaway success of The Breeders’ platinum-selling second album ‘Last Splash’ and the Pixies calling it a day the first time round, The Amps are an important part of the Kim Deal canon.

First intended as a solo project, The Amps instead grew into a fully-fledged band with Jim MacPherson from The Breeders joining on drums and Dayton, OH musicians Luis Lerma and Nate Farley on bass and guitar respectively. Releasing just one album, ‘Pacer’, in 1995 and after a whirlwind of touring with the likes of Foo Fighters, Guided By Voices and Sonic Youth, Kim returned them to the shelf, leaving behind one of her most intriguing chapters.

A glorious record whose charm has only grown since release, ‘Pacer’ captures Kim energised by a new band and no pressure, recording with purpose in seven studios with a different engineer each time. The resultant record is both raw and undeniable, with Kim’s songwriting arguably at its most cryptic and personal. Don’t be fooled by its casual lo-fi veneer too, underneath lies one serious record that never dips or lacks purpose. With this first vinyl repress on 4AD, ‘Pacer’ is finally getting the reappraisal it richly deserves

Previously unreleased live version of the bands Boxer album performed in full - recorded at Forest National, Brussels, Belgium, 09 November 2017

TRACK LISTING

Fake Empire (Live In Brussels)
Mistaken For Strangers (Live In Brussels)
Brainy (Live In Brussels)
Squalor Victoria (Live In Brussels)
Green Gloves (Live In Brussels)
Slow Show (Live In Brussels)
Apartment Story (Live In Brussels)
Start A War (Live In Brussels)
Guest Room (Live In Brussels)
Racing Like A Pro (Live In Brussels)
Ada (Live In Brussels)
Gospel (Live In Brussels)

“Like Arthur Russell before them, they give equal floorspace to the spiritual and the sensual.” Pitchfork

Gang Gang Dance – one of the most enduring and creatively vibrant musical acts of 21st Century New York – return with brand new album, Kazuashita.

Formed initially as an improvisational outfit in the early 2000s, Gang Gang Dance are Lizzi Bougatsos, Brian DeGraw and Josh Diamond. All independently operating artists in their own rights, they consistently blur the boundaries between music and art; as comfortable today performing at the Whitney Biennial as they are at Coachella, and count Dash Snow & Nate Lowman, Tinchy Stryder and the Boredoms as previous collaborators.

Held together by Lizzi Bougatsos and her otherworldly vocal, Kazuashita is an intoxicating mix of ethereal shoegaze and electronic ambience, self-produced by Brian DeGraw.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Seguing brilliantly between a swooning electronic swell and clicking, glitched-out histrionics, GGD manage to toe the line between downbeat post-shoegaze electronics and more driven elements without batting an eyelid. Perfectly balanced and brilliantly evocative.

TRACK LISTING

( Infirma Terrae )
J-TREE
Lotus
( Birth Canal )
Kazuashita
Young Boy (Marika In Amerika)
Snake Dub
Too Much, Too Soon
( Novae Terrae )
Salve On The Sorrow

The Breeders were formed by The Pixies Kim Deal and Throwing Muses Tanya Donelly. This was their debut album originally released by 4AD in May 1990. The album, produced by Steve Albini combines the energy and angular pop sensibilities of their other bands, bolstered by creative songwriting and clever arrangements. It features iconic Vaughan Oliver artwork.

TRACK LISTING

Glorious
Doe
Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Oh!
Hellbound
When I Was A Painter
Fortunately Gone
Iris
Opened
Only In 3’s
Lime House
Metal Man

Fourth studio album, originally released in April 2008. This reissue of ‘Mountain Battles’ includes 12” size, 28 page booklet.

TRACK LISTING

Overglazed
Bang On
Night Of Joy
We're Gonna Rise
German Studies
Spark
Istanbul
Walk It Off
Regalame Esta Noche
Here No More
No Way
It's The Love
Mountain Battles

4AD are repressing two more Cocteau Twins’ albums on vinyl this coming March, the albums Head Over Heels and Treasure. Both following on from the recent reissues of Blue Bell Knoll, Heaven or Las Vegas, Tiny Dynamine / Echoes In A Shallow Bay and The Pink Opaque.

Using new masters created from high definition files transferred from the original analogue tapes, both albums are being pressed on 180g heavyweight vinyl and come with download codes.

Treasure:
The band returned to being a trio in 1984 with guitarist Simon Raymonde joining their ranks in time for third album, Treasure. Produced by Robin Guthrie and featuring tracks ‘Lorelei’, ‘Ivo’ and ‘Persephone’, Treasure is often celebrated as one of the band’s finest works.

As Pitchfork put it when including the album in their Top 100 Albums of the 1980s, “Treasure was titled simply enough. An adjective for the endlessly inventive melodic lines you'd find buried in these songs, and a verb for what you'd do with them for years to come.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Amazing record. Stunningly beautiful tunes and voice, incredible guitars, and not one bad track. We thought we'd all died and gone to heaven when this came out in the early 80's!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Ivo (3.53)
A2. Lorelei (3.42)
A3. Beatrix (3.11)
A4. Persephone (4.17)
A5. Pandora (For Cindy) (5.35)
B1. Amelia (3.29)
B2. Aloysius (3.26)
B3. Cicely (3.27)
B4. Otterley (4.03)
B5. Donimo (6.11)

All Nerve – the first new album from The Breeders in a decade – reunites band members Kim and Kelley Deal, Josephine Wiggs and Jim Macpherson, the line-up behind the iconic and platinum-selling record, Last Splash.

The quartet returned to the stage in 2013 to celebrate the album’s 20th anniversary and have been quietly working on new material since then.

Featuring singles ‘Wait in the Car’ and title track ‘All Nerve’, recording took place at Candyland, Dayton, Kentucky, with Mike Montgomery; Electrical Audio, Chicago, with Steve Albini and Greg Norman; and with Tom Rastikis at Fernwood Studios, Dayton, Ohio. Artwork was conceived by Chris Bigg, who has worked with The Breeders since their first album, Pod.

TRACK LISTING

Nervous Mary
Wait In The Car
All Nerve
MetaGoth
Spacewoman
Walking With A Killer
Howl At The Summit
Archangel’s Thunderbird
Dawn: Making An Effort
Skinhead #2
Blues At The Acropolis

2017 marks a decade of U.S. Girls, the protean musical enterprise of multi-disciplinary artist, Meg Remy. Today, Remy announces details of her sixth studio album In a Poem Unlimited, which will be released on 16th February 2018, plus the official video for a new U.S. Girls song, ‘Velvet 4 Sale’.

Remy’s second release for 4AD, which also includes her recently released single, ‘Mad As Hell’ – a clarion call for pacifism – was tracked in collaboration with Toronto-based instrumental collective the Cosmic Range, and features arrangements by long-time contributors Maxmilian Turnball and Louis Percival. The dizzying buffet of live grooves on In a Poem Unlimited represents an inversion of the dusty, sample-based minimal textures of Half Free, Remy’s euphoric 4AD debut. Steered into focus by Remy and mixer/co-producer Steve Chahley, Poem features disco employed as a protest vernacular (‘Mad As Hell’), as well as an unrelenting assault (‘Time’); moody, slow-burning funk (‘Velvet 4 Sale’ & ‘L-Over’) and earnest synth anthems ‘Rosebud’ and ‘Poem’, which form the album’s emotional core.

Poem features dark meditations reflecting charged atmospheres that directly precede and follow acts of violence. Many of the songs are character studies of women grappling with power; how to gain and exert it spiritually, as well as desperate strategies to mitigate its infliction. Remy also rallies against the public lies told by political and religious leaders, and more crucially, questions the lies we tell ourselves in order to survive. While U.S. Girls, denoting the plural, is no longer a misnomer, In A Poem Unlimited may be Remy’s most individually distilled protest to date.

Following ‘Mad As Hell’, Poem album opener ‘Velvet 4 Sale’ is released today. The song concerns a female narrator imploring another to buy a gun for protection, impressing that the only way to change men is for women to use violence. Remy says, “Men are lucky women (and children) have yet to take up arms. And although I hope this never happens and I completely disagree that violence is ever effective, this very idea was ripe for a song.”

The accompanying video explores the idea of acknowledgement as a form of retribution, a counterbalance more powerful than violence itself. Remy plays a police officer who discovers that a fellow cop who has beaten his wife will be left off the hook as a “professional courtesy”. By the power of her unrelenting gaze she banishes the abuser in the final images of this powerful and provocative video. This striking tableau representing the power of bearing witness ties back into the album’s underlying theme; that truth and acknowledgement are our most potent and corrosive weapons in the fight against repressive inequality. Remy’s work with this video (which she co-directed with Alex Kingsmill) and the album as a whole, illustrate and seek to inspire the taking up of these moral arms.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: This superb new outing from Meg Remy in her U.S Girls moniker sees snappy guitar falling under a landslide of heavy-rock power chords and scattered electronic elements, whilst still retaining all of it's cohesion and grace. More percussive numbers sit happily alongside the more folky, quiet pieces without skipping a beat.

TRACK LISTING

1. Velvet 4 Sale
2. Rage Of Plastics
3. Mad As Hell
4. Why Do I Lose My Voice When I Have Something To Say
5. Rosebud
6. Incidental Boogie
7. L-Over
8. Pearly Gates
9. Poem
10. Traviata
11. Time

Officially now a duo, Merrill Garbus is joined by long-time collaborator Nate Brenner. Their new album, I can feel you creep into my private life, tackles race, politics, intersectional feminism and environmental prophecies head on. But in the billows of intense subject matter, the album is their most immediate and upbeat yet – this is Tune-Yards’ music to dance to.

The follow-up to 2014’s acclaimed album, Nikki Nack, much of I can feel you creep into my private life was recorded at John Vanderslice’s new Tiny Telephone studio in their hometown of Oakland, CA. To help finish this stunning record, they enlisted mixer Mikaelin “Blue” Bluespruce (Solange, Skepta, Kendrick Lamar) and mastered it in Harlem, NY with Dave Kutch (Jay-Z, Chance the Rapper).

TRACK LISTING

1. Heart Attack
2. Coast To Coast
3. ABC 123
4. Now As Then
5. Honesty
6. Colonizer
7. Look At Your Hands
8. Home
9. Hammer
10. Who Are You
11. Private Life
12. Free

Torres is the creative alter-ego of Brooklyn-based Mackenzie Scott. In describing the album, Scott says it “is entirely about using the body that each of us has been given as a mechanism of joy.” The 10 original tracks on Three Futures embrace ecstasy, desire and indulgence rather than self-denial, and exude this idea via immersive music. Mechanized grooves are placed at the forefront, providing a framework for perforated electro-pop static, harsh gothic / industrial textures, and insistent Krautrock motifs.

For Three Futures, Scott reconnected with producer Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey), who worked on TORRES’ last album Sprinter, to record in Stockport and Dorset. David Tolomei (Beach House, Future Islands) mixed the album.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Innately listenable synth-pop / indie goodness on this newest one from all-round bon oeuf and songwriter extraordinaire Torres. It's a heartfelt and beautiful distillation of sexuality, companionship and brilliantly effusive melodicism. Would listen again.

TRACK LISTING

1. Tongue Slap Your Brains Out
2. Skim
3. Three Futures
4. Righteous Woman
5. Greener Stretch
6. Helen In The Woods
7. Bad Baby Pie
8. Marble Focus
9. Concrete Ganesha
10. To Be Given A Body

The National return with their much anticipated seventh album, produced by Aaron Dessner, with additional production by Matt Berninger and Bryce Dessner. The album was mixed by Peter Katis and recorded at Aaron’s Long Pond studio in Hudson Valley, NY.

While in some ways it’s typically National-sounding, they’ve definitely added some new elements to their sound. Opening track “Nobody Else Will Be There” is a stripped back ballad with melancholic piano, and Matt’s distinct vocals, but the electronics pulsing away in the background are a sign of what’s to come with the album.

All the usual elements are there, intricate guitars, delicate piano keys, scatter-shot drums and of course Matt’s mumbling/crooning baritone, but a new layer of electronics bubbling away in the mix adds a new dimension to their sound.

As with the last couple of albums, it features mostly fairly downtempo ballads but they do ramp things up from time to time: “Day I Die”, “They System Only Dreams In Total” and the big rock-out track of the album, “Turtleneck”. It’s taken a few listens to get into it, but as a fan I’m certainly not disappointed.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Nobody Else Will Be There
A2. Day I Die
A3. Walk It Back
B1. The System Only Dreams
In Total Darkness
B2. Born To Beg
B3. Turtleneck
C1. Empire Line
C2. I’ll Still Destroy You
C3. Guilty Party
D1. Carin At The Liquor Store
D2. Dark Side Of The Gym
D3. Sleep Well Beast

Flanked by a string quartet and a consort of seven trombones, this unique collaborative ensemble have assembled an expansive song cycle that explores the Sun, the Moon, the planets and other celestial bodies of our solar system (and beyond) through soundscape, song, science and myth.

The subject of the album is not just the wilderness of outer space, but also the interior space of human consciousness and how it engages with divinity, depravity, society and self - what does it mean to be human?

A musical and aesthetic journey as far-reaching as its subject: from lush piano ballads to prog-rock political anthems, curious electronic backbeats to classical cadenzas, which occasionally give way to ambient interludes and majestic brass chorales, buttressed by a percussive drive that keeps the momentum skyward.

In spite of all the experimentation in sound and style, Sufjan’s vocals provide a clear and coherent centre of gravity, and includes some of his most diverse vocal performances to date (from soft hush to guttural scream); whether he’s singing through effects pedals, vocoders, auto-tune or not, his voice delivers an ambitious flight map through the cosmos.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Conceptually intimidating but perfectly executed suite of space themed pieces, bold and tender in equal measure, beautifully composed and impeccably performed by a superbly talented bunch of some of the best musicians of modern times.

TRACK LISTING

1. Neptune
2. Jupiter
3. Halley's Comet
4. Venus
5. Uranus
6. Mars
7. Black Energy
8. Sun
9. Tides
10. Moon
11. Pluto
12. Kuiper Belt
13. Black Hole
14. Saturn
15. In The Beginning
16. Earth
17. Mercury

First appearing in late 2015 with the Fall In EP – which was hailed by The Sunday Times as “one of the most arresting debuts of the year” – Pixx (AKA Hannah Rodgers) has since released some more tracks to further intrigue and started to spend a lot of time out on the road, most notably tours with the likes of Daughter, Glass Animals and Youth Lagoon.

The Age Of Anxiety is Pixx’s debut album, and it finds her ostensibly place herself on the outside, looking in. Including the singles ‘I Bow Down’ and ‘Baboo’, the twelve-song collection seeks to address a generation increasingly isolated by an unprecedented new world order, from the pressures of social media to ever-changing political turbulence. A bold debut, it borrows its title from W.H. Auden’s final poem which was published in 1947, which charted one man’s quest to find substance and identity in a shifting and increasingly industrialised world.

“Pixx possesses the same celestial qualities as fellow label-mates Cocteau Twins or Blonde Redhead with a little astral, new age aesthetic of Grimes, and the gothic melancholy of Bauhaus.” The Guardian

Igniting interest with her eponymous debut album released just two years ago, Auckland’s Aldous Harding has become known for her sinister torch songs, gentle laments and eerie odes delivered with a charismatic combination of hubris, shrewd wit and quiet horror.

Produced by John Parish (PJ Harvey, Sparklehorse) in Bristol, a world away from her New Zealand home, Party introduces a new talent to the stark, dramatic realm where Kate Bush and Scott Walker reside. As well as contributions from Parish, Perfume Genius’s Mike Hadreas also lends vocals to the aforementioned ‘Imagining My Man’ and album closer ‘Swell Does The Skull’.

TRACK LISTING

1. Blend
2. Imagining My Man
3. Living The Classics
4. Party
5. I’m So Sorry
6. Horizon
7. What If Birds Aren’t Singing
They’re Screaming
8. The World Is Looking For You
9. Swell Does The Skull

The new album from John Moreland is an honest, bruising experience. A beautiful record about love, faith and the human condition, Big Bad Luv is John’s fourth album to date and also his debut for 4AD.

Hailing from Tulsa, OK, John composes both pointedly and prodigiously, and has released largely self-produced albums every other year since 2011. Playing an equally pivotal role in his rise have been his mesmeric solo performances (including his TV debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last year), which coupled with his incredible records, has helped to create a real word-of-mouth about him. Big Bad Luv, was recorded in Little Rock, AK, and mostly with a crew of Tulsa friends: John Calvin Abney (piano and guitar), Aaron Boehler (bass), Paddy Ryan (drums), Jared

Tyler (dobro) and Lucero's Rick Steff (piano). Coming together in three sessions over ten months, which were sandwiched between touring dates and life, the final album was then mixed by GRAMMY winning Tchad Blake, who has worked with iconic acts from Al Green to Tom Waits.

Spiritchaser, Dead Can Dance’s seventh album, came out in 1996 and is the final studio album the band released with 4AD (it was to be another 16 years until they reconvened to make their eighth, Anastasis). Again recording at Brendan’s Quivvy Church in Ireland and as hinted at by the album’s title, the band had moved their focus away from the traditional medieval and Eastern sound of their middle albums to work with African and Caribbean tribal rhythms. With percussion at the fore, Spiritchaser is mainly just Brendan and Lisa, whose strong singing – like most their career’s work - remains the album’s centrepiece.

With the industrial textures of their eponymous debut behind them, the fifth album from Dead Can Dance (Aion, released in 1990) is perhaps the most focused and concise of their albums. Predominately recorded at their own studio in Southern Ireland and featuring guest vocals from soprano David Navarro Sust to add to Brendan and Lisa’s opposing yet complimentary styles, the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance are a core influence; an atmosphere amplified by the album’s cover, a section from the Earth phase of Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch's triptych, The Garden of Earthly Delights.

Everything Is Forgotten, the new album from Methyl Ethel (Perth, Australia), is a vivid, compelling and mysterious creature, all sinewy, curvaceous pop nuggets and enigmatic currents. Written and recorded by frontman Jake Webb, the album was brought to life by acclaimed producer James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Foals). The pair’s collaboration infusing the band’s shoegaze dream-pop palate with electronic and polyrhythmic flourishes, allowing Webb’s keening, gender-fluid vocals and searing poetry to take centre stage.

Ever-evolving, Bing & Ruth is steered by composer David Moore, a pianist from Kansas and graduate of New York’s school of Jazz and Contemporary Music at the New School.

Their line-up has transmuted from the eleven-strong line-up that created debut album City Lake (“A stunning, humble record built on traditions we all understand, yet, somehow feels dizzyingly new.” – The Quietus) to a cast of seven for 2014’s Tomorrow Was The Golden Age (“One of the finest leftfield releases of the year.” – Pitchfork).

With No Home of the Mind, the ensemble has been streamlined to five and, after a year of heartfelt composition and with everything meticulously rehearsed in advance, the whole album was recorded in two days and in the fewest takes possible. An attempt to recreate the immediacy of classic session-style musicianship, where one-take recordings were a standard to keep costs down, No Home of the Mind explores piano’s percussive qualities alongside running woodwinds, warbling tape delays and splattered upright bass lines that stare out with a wide-eyed transcendence, taking so-called “classical” music to new limits.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A beautiful suite of brittle modern-classical drones and twinkling piano, crafted together with subtlety and grace. A startling and riveting journey, filled with moments of tentative meditation and glimmers of pure joy.

TRACK LISTING

1. Starwood Choker
2. As Much As Possible
3. Scrapes
4. Chonchos
5. The How Of It Sped
6. Is Drop
7. Form Takes
8. To All It
9. Flat Line/Peak Color
10. What Ash It Flow Up

Two years after the release of his celebrated debut album Tremors, SOHN is back with Rennen.

In between records, the London-born artist has traded Vienna for the warmth of Los Angeles, but the influence of his former home still lingers (Rennen is a German verb meaning ‘to run’). Resuming a nocturnal schedule – as he did with Tremors – SOHN spent a month writing alone in northern California, recording until the morning most days. Including singles ‘Signal’ and ‘Conrad’, the ten songs of Rennen are confidently direct and focused. Consciously exercising restraint, he has used only a handful of musical elements on each track, eager to allow the spotlight to shine on the vocals, melodies and rhythms.

An ambitious exhibition of both his personal and artistic growth, Rennen confidently displays the evolution SOHN has undergone in just two short years. It's also a starter's pistol ringing out loud and clear with an unmistakable message: it's time to run again, and he’s ready.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Deep, thoughtful, electronic soul from the London born producer.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hard Liquor
2. Conrad
3. Signal
4. Dead Wrong
5. Primary
6. Rennen
7. Falling
8. Proof
9. Still Waters
10. Harbour

‘Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun’: With Dead Can Dance now firmly centred round the core of Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, they released their third album ‘Within The Realm Of A Dying Sun’ in the Summer of 1987, showing both a continued maturity in their sound and rise in their popularity. Recorded during an intense period of musical and personal growth for the band, the album’s eight songs are split equally between the duo with the first half being sung by Brendan and the second Lisa. At the time, Q Magazine described the album as combining “superb voice, ethereal church choirs, sweeping strings and a brochure of ethnic music: Middle Eastern, Indian, Moorish, anywhere but London’s East End where the couple resided.” The album’s cover only adds to the album’s aura of mystery with a haunting photograph of the family grave at the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris of famed French biologist François-Vincent Raspail.

‘Toward The Within’: Released in October 1994 and out of print on vinyl ever since, ‘Toward The Within’ was an audio and video document of the 1993 sell-out Dead Can Dance World tour. Recorded at the Mayfair Theater in Santa Monica, California, it marked one of the final performances at the historic theatre as it later suffered major structural damage in an earthquake in 1994. Despite being a live recording, ‘Toward The Within’ includes twelve previously unrecorded tracks as well as material from their six previous studio albums.

‘Garden Of The Arcane Delights’ / ‘The John Peel Sessions’: ‘Garden Of The Arcane Delights’ is the only EP released by Dead Can Dance, coming out in 1984 and acting as a bridge between their first two albums. Its sleeve a sketch by Brendan Perry, depicting “primal man deprived of perception, standing within the confines of a garden containing a fountain and trees laden with fruit... a Blakean universe in which mankind can only redeem itself, can only rid itself of blindness, through the correct interpretation of signs and events that permeate the fabric of nature’s laws.”

This new expanded version sees the EP faithfully pressed on to one piece of a vinyl at 45rpm with a second disc being added, compiling both of the band’s sessions for John Peel, recorded in the same time period.

Do Hollywood is the eagerly anticipated debut album from brothers Brian (19) and Michael (17) D’Addario.

Hailing from Long Island, NY, Brian and Michael have been playing rock music since they were old enough to walk and talk, mastering every instrument they could get their hands on and writing and performing everything together (they alternate writing credits and instruments on Do Hollywood).

Recorded in Los Angeles, CA, with production by Jonathan Rado of Foxygen, they mine inspiration from every era of rock, crafting richly sophisticated baroque-pop songs into a ten-track tour de force.

TRACK LISTING

A1. I Wanna Prove To You
A2. Those Days Is Comin’ Soon
A3. Haroomata
A4. Baby, Baby
A5. These Words
A6. As Long As We’re Together
B1. How Lucky Am I?
B2. Hi+Lo
B3. Frank
B4. A Great Snake

When Castlemaine’s Oliver Hugh Perry released his self-recorded debut EP, ‘Tropical Oceans’, D.D Dumbo was born. Led by the spooky strut of the title-track, the lo-fi four song-set of blues-laced, deconstructed pop announced Perry as an exciting newcomer fluent in a language all his own. People took notice and soon he was performing solo with a 12-string electric guitar, two drums and a bunch of effect pedals and on tour with the likes of Daughter, Iron & Wine, Jungle, St Vincent, Tame Impala, tUnE-yArDs and Warpaint.

‘Utopia Defeated’ is his debut album, an epic, sprawling opus sprung from Oliver’s imagination, written and performed almost entirely by him. Based in the 4AD Studios in London, the album was recorded, engineered and produced by Perry and 4AD’s resident engineer Fabian Prynn.

Featuring the singles ‘Satan’ and ‘Walrus’, the tentrack album hurdles effortlessly over the expectations set by his intriguing debut EP. In an early review, Uncut magazine heralded it as “a looping, globally attuned 2016 update of Jeff Buckley’s ‘Grace’.”

TRACK LISTING

Walrus
Satan
In The Water
Cortisol
Alihukwe
King Franco Picasso
The Day I First Found God
Toxic City
Brother
Oyster

Galvanized by Tampa hardcore and inspired by its miscreant noise, A Corpse Wired For Sound signals a new chapter for Merchandise. Their second for album 4AD, Merchandise have stripped back to the core of Carson Cox (vocals, electronics), Dave Vassalotti (guitar, electronics) and Pat Brady (bass) to make A Corpse Wired For Sound. The trio travelled to Rosà, Italy to start proceedings, recording half in a studio there and the rest at home, in Tampa as well as in Cox’s newly adopted bases of New York and Berlin.

The album’s metallic title is inspired by a science fiction short story by JG Ballard, but equally sums up the band’s current state of mind; “we were ‘reborn’ as a rock band for our last record (After The End)," says Vassalotti, “and then we straight-up died again. It couldn’t last. The result is this distended corpse responding to you from both sides of the Atlantic, forever singing in spite of everything.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Flower Of Sex
2. Crystal Cage
3. Right Back To The Start
4. End Of The Week
5. Lonesome Sound
6. Shadow Of The Truth
7. Silence
8. I Will Not Sleep Here
9. My Dream Is Yours

Scott Walker follows his remarkable collaboration with Sunn O))) with this remarkable soundtrack to Brady Corbet’s directorial debut, Walker’s first score work since the Pola X soundtrack in 1999.

Partly inspired by Jean-Paul Sartre’s short story of the same name, The Childhood of a Leader is a tense psychological drama tracing the formative years of a young boy and set against the backdrop of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference that led to the establishment of the Treaty of Versailles.

Walker continues to work with long-term collaborators Peter Walsh (co-producer) and Mark Warman (musical director), with the latter conducting an orchestra comprised of 46 string players and 16 brass for the studio recording.

TRACK LISTING

CD Tracklisting:
1. Orchestral Tuning Up
2. Opening
3. Dream Sequence
4. Village Walk
5. RUN
6. Down The Stairs
7. Up The Stairs
8. The Letter
9. Versailles
10. Cutting Flowers
11. Boy,Mirror,Cars Arriving
12. Third Tantrum
13. Printing Press
14. On The Way To The Meeting
15. The Meeting
16. Post Meeting
17. Finale
18. New Dawn (synth Layout For Cut Scene)

LP Tracklisting:
A1. Orchestral Tuning Up
A2. Opening
A3. Dream Sequence
A4. Village Walk
A5. RUN
A6. Down The Stairs
A7. Up The Stairs
A8. The Letter
A9. Versailles
B1. Cutting Flowers
B2. Boy,Mirror,Cars Arriving
B3. Third Tantrum
B4. Printing Press
B5. On The Way To The Meeting
B6. The Meeting
B7. Post Meeting
B8. Finale
B9. New Dawn (synth Layout For Cut Scene)

Following her inestimable contributions as a founding member of both Throwing Muses and The Breeders, Tanya Donelly took centre stage to form Belly with brothers Tom and Chris Gorman on guitars and drums respectively and Fred Abong on bass. Around the release of their debut album Star in 1993, Fred left the band and was replaced by Gail Greenwood.

Among a wave of essential new American guitar acts in the early-90s, it was Belly’s spikey dreampop that helped set them apart. Catching fire with singles ‘Feed The Tree’ and ‘Gepetto’, Star saw them grab their moment and catapulted them in to the mainstream, selling almost two million copies worldwide and earning them two GRAMMY nominations. A second album followed in 1995, King, before they called it quits a year later

Twenty years on and excitingly the latter line-up of Tanya, Tom, Chris and Gail are back and will be performing both albums this summer on tours of both the UK and US. To complement, 4AD bring us this reissue of Star on vinyl with updated artwork from Chris Gorman and package design from Chris Bigg. The new version is now spread across two LPs, and is pressed on white marbled vinyl in a gatefold sleeve. It also includes a bonus CD of the album.

Dead Can Dance’s second album, Spleen And Ideal (1985), saw them experiment more with instrumentation, abandoning guitars in favour of cello, trombone and timpani. Widely acclaimed, there was now a richness of unification between voice and music, lyrics and structure, showing they had a concrete sense of the aural ideal they were striving towards. It’s title was taken from Spleen et Idéal, a collection of poems by 18th century French poet Charles Baudelaire.

The 2016 LP version is a repress of the original release.

‘This Moment’ is the first album by Danish artist Søren Juul to be released under his own name, having previously recorded using the moniker Indians.

A deeply personal account of Juul’s life over a tumultuous three-year period, ‘This Moment’ was recorded mainly in Copenhagen and finished in Los Angeles with producer and fellow Dane Peter Stengaard. An uplifting and redemptive work, the immersive soundscapes of the songs reach heights Juul’s work under Indians had hinted at.

As Indians, Juul released the acclaimed album ‘Somewhere Else’, scored the stunning song ‘Oblivion’ for the major motion picture ‘The Fault In Our Stars’, composed works for the Copenhagen Philharmonic and was nominated in four categories for the prestigious Danish music awards Gaffa Prisen. He also toured the world with the likes of Beirut, Daughter, Julia Holter and Perfume Genius.

TRACK LISTING

Ambitions
Dear Child
Greenpoint
Don’t Want To Fool You
Epic Moon
Manly Beach
Soulseeker
Pushing Me Away
Seventeen
This Moment

New to 4AD, Australian trio Methyl Ethel’s celebrated debut album is being given a worldwide release. Hailing from the remote fringes of Perth in Western Australia, band linchpin Jake Webb - like 4AD peers Grimes and Bradford Cox before him - wrote, played and recorded everything on ‘Oh Inhuman Spectacle’.

Crafted in isolation, the album’s understated psychedelic pop quickly drew plaudits, leading Webb to recruit Chris Wright (drums) and Thom Stewart (bass) - friends from the tight-knit and thriving music scene in Perth - to help realise the songs live as a full-fledged band.

Having gained notable success in Australia including being nominated for the prestigious Australian Music Prize and taking Laneway Festival by storm, Methyl Ethel are now poised to take their music overseas with the worldwide release of ‘Oh Inhuman Spectacle’ and a huge run of touring in both Europe and North America to coincide.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Like a modern, indiefied iteration of Syd Barrett with the melodic intonations of the ghosts of post-punk. Woozy rhythms and fuzzed-out basses, twirling arpeggios meet chugging guitars and soaring strained vocal melodies. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

TRACK LISTING

Idée Fixe
Shadowboxing
Rogues
To Swim
Twilight Driving
Depth Perception
Unbalancing Acts
Also Gesellschaft
Obscura
Artificial Limb
Sweet Waste
Everything As It Should
Be

'Love Streams' takes its cues from the avant-classical orchestration and extreme electronic processing of his previous full-length, 2013’s 'Virgins', but shaped into more melancholic, ultraviolet hues. Inspired by notions of 15th century choral scores (particularly those by Josquin des Prez), transposed to an artificial intelligence-era language of digital resonance and bright synths, the album was assembled gradually, with layers of studio-tracked keyboards, choir and woodwinds being woven into the mix, then molded and disfigured through complex programming. Like hearing some ancient strain of sacred music corrupted by encryption, Hecker admits to thinking about ideas like “liturgical aesthestics after Yeezus” and the “transcendental voice in the age of auto-tune,” during its creation.

The 'Love Streams' sessions took place throughout 2014 and 2015 at Greenhouse Studios in Reykjavik, Iceland - where parts of both Virgins and Ravedeath, 1972 were tracked - with Hecker reuniting with the same crew of collaborators from Virgins (Kara-Lis Coverdale, Grímur Helgason) and bolstered by the Icelandic Choir Ensemble, whose vocal arrangements were scored by Icelandic composer Johann Johannsson.

The title of Hecker’s new work can be interpreted any number of ways - erotic, technological, spiritual - although his own conception is appropriately vast, calling it “a riff on the ubiquity and nihilism of streaming of all forms of life.” Now we stream more than we love. Nowadays music too frequently resembles a product, or white noise. With a career spanning fifteen years, Tim Hecker belongs to a select camp actively resisting this undertow, this reduction in significance.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: What more apt a title could be given to the newest excursion of Canadian Sound sculptor Tim Hecker than 'Love Streams'? Recalling moments of Four Tet's similarly titled 'There Is Love In You', chopped vocal harmonies atop twinkling synths, churning yet shimmering industrial drones underpinning the whole adventure. This is Hecker's most optomistic and beautiful exploration yet. This is, as Princess Jasmine once famously said : a 'Shining and Shimmering Wonder'.

Liima is a new band formed by Finnish percussionist Tatu Rönkkö plus Mads Brauer, Casper Clausen and Rasmus Stolberg of Danish act Efterklang.

Their debut album, ii, features songs written in Finland, Berlin, Istanbul and Madeira during four week-long residencies, with each one ending with a live concert, performing the freshly written songs in front of an audience.

Translated from Finnish as ‘glue’, Liima found the spontaneity of writing and performing in a limited time frame hugely liberating and took the same instinctive approach when recording this album. In October 2015, the band along with producer Jonas Verwijnen headed to Vox-Ton studio in Berlin, recording the album in just three days, playing everything together live with no overdubs. ii was mixed to tape by Francesco Donadello.

TRACK LISTING

1. Your Heart
2. Amerika
3. Roger Waters
4. Russians
5. Trains In The Dark
6. Woods
7. 513
8. You Stayed In Touch With The Wrong Guy
9. Black Beach
10. Change Of Time

This trio comprises of The National's rhythm section, brothers Scott and Bryan Devendorf along with Trombonist / arranger Ben Lanz who has worked with Beirut and Sufjan Stevens amongst others.

LNZNDRF’s debut is rock minimalism meets sonic maximalism. Recorded in a church in Cincinnati over two and a half days, the eight songs on the album were improvised with a vital spirit harking back to the reason the members became musicians in the first place.

The songs, which were edited from 30+ minute jams, evoke the essence of their expansive, largely improvised live shows.

TRACK LISTING

01 Future You
02 Beneath The Black Sea
03 Mt. Storm
04 Kind Things
05 Hypno-Skate
06 Stars And Time
07 Monument
08 Samarra

Nearly three years after the release of their debut 'If You Leave', Daughter – the London-based trio of Elena Tonra, Igor Haefeli and Remi Aguilella – will return in 2016 with a new album, entitled 'Not To Disappear'.

'Not To Disappear' is Daughter’s second album and finds the band making confident strides forward both sonically and lyrically. Elena, Igor and Remi spent a summer in New York recording 'Not To Disappear' with Nicolas Vernhes (Deerhunter, War On Drugs, Animal Collective) at his Rare Book Room studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: An amazing album by the very talented Daughter, it’s expressive and emotional throughout. More progressive and experimental from their previous album, ‘Not to Disappear’ is filled with devotion. Absorbing and beautiful, I would recommend it to anyone.

TRACK LISTING

1. New Ways
2. Numbers
3. Doing The Right Thing
4. How
5. Mothers
6. Alone / With You
7. No Care
8. To Belong
9. Fossa
10. Made Of Stone

As Marylin Manson once said, "This Is The New Shit"! Grimes is back in the house, beating up your speaker stack at her batshit best. Faced with the tricky decision of how to follow up her trend setting, hot cake-like selling breakout smash "Visions", the now LA-based musician took the obvious route of synth-baroque chamber music. Well at least on oddball opener "Laughing And Not Being Normal". From there we accelerate through the whole host of iPod-friendly pop, from country EDM, through baile funk and nu disco to chill out. But before you lose faith that the mighty Grimes has fallen in with the wrong crowd since her move to LA, all those mainstream tropes are perfectly subverted with a well judged post modern subtlety, while retaining all the hooks, riffs and melodies which makes pop, well, popular. Spanning over 14 tracks "Art Angels" features collaborations with Janelle Monáe and newcomer, Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes, but like all of her previous albums was written and recorded entirely as a solo endeavour. The new album features more live instrumentation than ever before with Grimes playing piano, guitar and violin and continuing her evolution as a musician and a producer for her most ambitious album to date.

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: The pop sensation Grimes’new album was an instant hit, her electro style remains but comes back with even more pop-power (which I didn’t think was even possible!) It has a feisty cartoon anime vibe, extravagant reverb and dreamlike lyrics for her angelic vocals.

TRACK LISTING

1. Laughing And Not Being Normal
2. California
3. SCREAM Ft. Aristophanes
4. Flesh Without Blood
5. Belly Of The Beat
6. Kill V. Maim
7. Artangels
8. Easily
9. Pin
10. Realiti
11. World Princess Part II
12. Venus Fly Ft. Janelle Monáe
13. Life In The Vivid Dream
14. Butterfly

EL VY is the collaboration between Matt Berninger, vocalist and lyricist of The National, and Brent Knopf, the Portland musician and producer best known for his work in Menomena and his more recent band, Ramona Falls.

Their debut album, Return To The Moon, is a project Berninger and Knopf have been thinking about for years. Their friendship spans nearly a decade, starting back when The National and Menomena played small half-empty clubs along America’s west coast. Feeling an immediate musical kinship, the pair kept in touch, Brent sending Matt occasional rough sketches of music and Matt responding with ideas and lyrics. Finally, in the winter and spring of 2014-115, they got together to make an album.

Return to the Moon sounds exactly like you'd hope a collaboration between these artists would: Berninger's darkly funny, lyrical storytelling and his immediately identifiable sense of melody offset by Knopf's playful, architectural arrangements and inventive production.

Fading Frontier is the seventh studio album by Deerhunter. The record was made by founding members Bradford Cox, Lockett Pundt and Moses Archuleta, and bassist Josh McKay. Written in their hometown of Atlanta, GA, production duties were shared by the band and Ben H. Allen III, continuing a collaboration that began with 2010’s Halcyon Digest.

Following the death-rattle garage catharsis of 2013’s Monomania, the group has shifted towards something strikingly balanced, focused on melody and texture. The songs are brighter; if not in content, then in the album’s production. Starkness plays against clutter in what is the band’s most complex yet accessible work to date.

Fading Frontier shows that a decade in, Deerhunter has lost none of its intensity. As the group matures, so they have grown into the most consistent purveyors of art-rock of their generation.